


Gravity Falls Mashup

by CrossingTheFourthWall



Series: Maria's Adventures [21]
Category: Gravity Falls, Trigun
Genre: (add in more tags the further along we get), (in chapter 30), (the last one is mine!), Alternate Universe - Blind Faith (Gravity Falls), Alternate Universe - Monster Falls, Alternate Universe - Puppet AU (Gravity Falls), Alternate Universe - Transcendence (Gravity Falls), Gen, Torture, canon 'verse, references back to previous stories (Pokemon in chapter 29), references to emotional trauma for a Ford in chapter 28, references to various amounts of abuse to a Ford in chapter 22, we've got FIVE different AUs here!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-10
Updated: 2019-01-04
Packaged: 2019-04-21 07:08:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 43
Words: 147,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14279658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrossingTheFourthWall/pseuds/CrossingTheFourthWall
Summary: Maria gets pulled into another series of events when a pair of unexpected visitors show up unconscious at her doorstep. Events only seem to escalate from there when she finds out that four near-identical dimensions were merged together by a certain three-sided demon, and he's sent some minions ahead of him to stir up the world that's been left behind.One problem. Those minions? A family of severely-traumatized Pines.They have one year to help this family get back on their feet before Cipher swoops in to attempt to take this merged dimension. Hopefully things won't go completely sideways.





	1. Unexpected Arrivals

Twin suns beat down on a desert landscape, not even a cloud in the sky to block the light or bring down even a drop of rain on the inhabitants of the planet below. People living outside of the bio-domes were forced to scavenge for survival, living off the strange Plants from Earth that kept them alive for as long as anyone could remember. These strange power plants, sentient as they were, were as willing to help as some humans were willing to suck them dry, although deaths of Plants were few and far between now.

This planet is Gunsmoke, a desert wasteland with an atmosphere. It should be impossible that anything would be able to survive on this world above the surface, and yet, even in these impossible conditions, there are people who are able to scrape together everything that they need in order to survive. And, now that Earth and Gunsmoke are working together, conditions are slowly improving, with oases being created across the planet in the form of bio-domes, taking the edge off an otherwise deadly world.

Near two small bio-domes a few miles out from a city called December, a two-story wooden house sits in near-perfect condition. Few people know it’s exact location, and those who do tell stories of strange fruits and stranger hosts. The people of December know that the occupants of the house prefer their privacy, but occasionally, one of them will make the trip to the city to play with the children, trade for any needed supplies, and ask for the latest news. All are given readily – usually with donuts involved.

All in all, things are pretty peaceful on the planet – even with the chaos that comes with terraforming a planet and the constant rumors of outlaws trying – and failing – to find as famous a name as the mysterious legend known as Vash the Stampede, who disappeared without a trace and is said to still wander the deserts without a care in the world.

However, on this particular day, this so-called legend is in a bit more of a hurry than he usually is….

**Change in POV**

"Maria!"

A mostly brown-haired young woman with gray hair at her temples who was wearing jeans, red shirt and an orange jacket - and was in the process of stepping out of a glass dome that housed a number of strange-looking trees with even stranger fruits – looked over at the sound of a young man’s voice.

“Vash? What’s—“ Maria’s bright blue eyes widened as her eyebrows shot up, and she ran to the front door of the wooden cabin and threw it open, letting a blond-and-black-haired, geranium-red-coat-wearing blur barrel inside and up to the second floor, carrying two large, black bundles over his shoulders.

“What’s going on, Vash? Is there something happening back in town?” Maria ran up the stairs after Vash as another blond-haired young man with a black lightning bolt streak in his hair looked out from the kitchen.

“Nothing in town!” Vash threw the door to the guest bedroom open and ran inside, still carrying the two bundles over his shoulders. “These guys were a quarter mile from the house!”

Maria came screeching to a halt at the entrance to the bedroom. “Guys?” She quickly moved inside the room, her eyebrows practically leaping off her head as Vash dropped two figures on the bed. “Whoa! That’s some heavy-duty gear!”

“They’re also severely dehydrated.” Vash started pulling off one of the men’s boots. “They might have heat stroke!”

Maria’s surprise shifted to a frown that didn’t look like it belonged on the face of a seemingly ageless young woman. “Right.” She looked down the stairs. “Knives! Get some cold water and rags – stat!”

There came a thudding noise from the kitchen below.

Maria joined Vash in stripping the boots and clothes off the two men he had dragged in. “Man, these guys have some really prepared for something.” She started pulling at one of the men’s coats. The man himself had a lot of muscle in his arms, and an eye patch that she wasn’t planning on pulling off anytime soon. There was a burn scar running across his eyes that looked old, and it made Maria feel like there was something familiar about it.

_Clunk._

Vash let out a whistle as he started pulling off the other man’s black trench coat, revealing a number of weapons from grenades to a rifle and a couple of shot guns that didn’t look like they used bullets. “Man, these guys are armed to the teeth and then some! It’s like they’re a two-man army.”

“And they’re probably attached to all of them at least a little.” Maria finished pulling the coat off the man with the eye patch and started peeling off the belts that were covered in rifles and an assortment of other weapons, being careful in case she accidentally set any of them off. "They're not going to be able to move for a while, so it'd probably be all right if we left them in the room where they can see them. They look like they've been through a lot."

Vash nodded in agreement. He looked worried, but he also didn’t look like he was about to press for questions concerning the scars and the weapons the two men had on them.

Maria finished yanking off the man’s pants, leaving his boxers on. “I think that’s as stripped as we’re going to get them.”

The man with short, white-blond hair and black lightning-bolt streak appeared in the doorway, carrying a bucket of water with two soaked rags hanging over one side. "Severe dehydration?"

“Yeah.” Maria dropped the pants on the floor, wrinkling her nose at the smell. “We’ve got to get them cooled down asap, and force water down their throats if we have to.”

“A little help, Knives?” Vash pulled on the other man’s pants, frowning. “Man, these things are sweaty.”

Knives put down the bucket and assisted his brother in peeling off the pants.

“Black is not a wise choice.” Knives frowned disapprovingly. “These two were horribly unprepared.”

Vash paled a little, now seeing what the two men looked like underneath all the layers. “Unprepared for the desert, maybe, but they’ve definitely been through a lot….”

“Hopefully they won’t try to do anything when they wake up.” Maria frowned at the sweaty clothes that were scattered all over the floor. "I'm going to have to get these things washed."

Knives looked over the man that he and Vash had just pulled the pants off of. "Interesting. This one has six fingers on both hands."

Maria looked up sharply when she heard that, staring at Knives with widened eyes. " _Six_ fingers? Wait -- let me see." She quickly moved over to the other side of the bed and inspected the other man's hands. She looked up at the man's face and zeroed in on the rounded-edge glasses, the scruffy square jaw, the slowly-graying hair that still somehow looked mostly brown....

Something in Maria's mind recognized the face and the six fingers.

_The author of the Journals...._

Maria sucked in a breath sharply. "No way...."

“You know something.” Knives wasn’t asking. He rarely ever did.

“Maybe.” Maria pulled back, looking between the two guests – well, patients now, and guests later. _If he’s…then…_ She frowned. “I know of a counterpart to this one.” She motioned to the six-fingered man. “I met him the summer before the World Collision happened.”

Vash and Knives exchanged looks. They’d only heard Maria reference an event with that name a few rare times. Considering that it had happened centuries ago, it wasn’t usually brought up except as stories.

Talking about what had happened _before_ the World Collision was even more rare.

“I did hear news of his alternate selves, and some of the things they went through.” Maria lowered her hand, looking troubled. Now she knew why the scar across the other man's eyes looked familiar. “And these two…they went through a lot more than the counterpart I met did – or the other alternate versions, even. I’d hoped that it was just some fan’s false dream, but….”

“How bad is it going to be when they wake up?” Vash’s eyes flicked to the man with the eye patch.

“Hopefully, one of them will listen to reason, but we won’t be able to know for sure until then.” Maria folded her arms across her chest, her eyebrows coming together. “We should probably take turns keeping an eye on them, and Knives, if they wake up when you’re in here, you shouldn’t ask them any questions about where they were before _at all_. That could set them off in a bad way.”

Knives’ eyes narrowed at that. “You humans have such weak psyches if that is true.”

Maria and Vash both frowned.

“Don’t push their buttons,” Maria said shortly. “Asking for their origin story is going to shut them off from us. _Don’t ask._ ”

Knives’ eyes narrowed even further. “Very well, then.”

Maria gave a nod. “I’ll go put something together for lunch. Vash, you can keep an eye on them for the first few hours.”

Vash gave a salute. “You got it!” He grabbed the chair from the desk and sat down at the foot of the bed.

Knives rolled his eyes. “I’ll be in my greenhouse.” He stepped out without another word.

Maria placed a hand on Vash’s shoulder. “I’ll bring lunch up to you.”

Vash looked over and gave a smile. “Thanks, auntie.”

Maria half-smiled. “Anytime, nephew.” She turned and walked out of the room, then down to the first floor and into the kitchen, where she started grabbing bread, cheese, and sliced ham from the fridge. “Today feels like a good day for grilled cheese, I think. Let’s see….”

It didn’t take Maria too long to get the three sandwiches put together, and after she dropped one off in the guest room with Vash, she took the other one out to the other bio-dome sitting behind the house and slipped inside.

This bio-dome, unlike the other one that looked like a miniature orchard, had more of the appearance of a jungle that had been partially tamed and trapped in a greenhouse. Strange plants that definitely were not from Earth or Gunsmoke grew up along the glass and twined around shelves of collected materials. Only a desk near the entrance was completely cleared off and free from the growing plant life.

Knives was waiting for her a few feet inside the door. “What can you tell me about our two guests that won’t make you dance around your words.”

Maria put the plate on the desk, not really looking Knives directly in the eye. “Why do you want to know about them?”

“What they were doing in the desert unprepared?”

Maria paused. “They probably didn’t know how hot the climate was when they got here, and they weren’t able to find a city before they collapsed. Vash finding them was a godsend.”

“How could they not know that? It’s impossible not to know that this planet is dangerous to the average human – especially when they are unprepared.”

“Not if they’re inter-dimensional travelers who aren’t World Jumpers.” Maria’s gaze moved from Knives to the various plants that he kept in his greenhouse – both from Earth and from other worlds in the solar systems that humans had populated over the years. “They probably weren’t aware of where it was that they were ending up.”

“Is that even possible?”

“If they don’t have knowledge on where they’re headed? Very possible.” Maria reached under her jacket and pulled out a red and white baseball cap with a blue, sawblade-like shape on the front. She looked at the design with a nostalgic expression. “They could have done a blind dimension jump, or they could have overshot their initial destination. We won’t know for sure until they wake up.” The hat disappeared under her jacket.

Knives hummed at that. “Which won’t be for some time. Do you suspect that they are like you?”

“I highly doubt it. Their circumstances are far different from mine, but I don’t think it’d be a good idea if I went into the details now.”

Knives frowned. “You don’t want to tell me.”

“I want them to be able to trust us enough that they’ll give us a basic idea on their own, and that’s not going to happen for a long while. I doubt we’ll get the whole story before they leave. The only thing we can hope for is that they’ll at least trust us enough to let us get them back on their feet, and maybe help them get to wherever it is that they’ll want to go next.”

 “Do you have an idea as to what they will be asking for?”

Maria inclined her head. “I might have an idea, but I’d like to hear it from them first. Plus, I don’t know whether or not they’ve heard of people who can do what I can, so I’d rather not tell them everything about me until I know that they’re at least willing to listen and possibly trust us.”

Knives inclined his own head, then gave a slight nod. “I see. And our secret?”

Maria rubbed the back of her head. “I’m not sure what we’re going to do about that. The two of them _have_ been traveling for a while – I can tell because of all the scars and weapons they were carrying – but I don’t know how they’d react if they heard about…well, you guys. Especially considering the experiences they’ve probably had. If we do end up telling them, we probably won’t be telling them everything.”

“You believe these people can be trusted with it.”

“One of them has six fingers on both hands and has more than likely been called a freak for a good deal of his life by people who don’t know any better. And they’ve probably seen a good deal of things that could boggle an average human’s mind. If they were to learn about you guys, I think they’d be able to handle the news pretty well – for the most part. I wouldn’t suggest poking around in their heads while they’re unconscious to see if they would or not, though.”

“What makes you say that?”

Maria fixed Knives with a disapproving expression. “Let’s just say that there are some things that have been done to them that makes them highly adverse to someone invading their minds. They won’t like you for it, especially if you do it without permission.”

Knives raised an eyebrow. “I suppose Vash’s ‘the mind is a sanctuary’ policy will come into play here more than the other times?”

“You got that right.” Maria paused. “By the way, having six fingers is considered to be an anomaly among humans. It doesn’t appear often, but it can get a lot of attention when it does show up. I can only think of a few instances where I’ve seen someone who has that many fingers, and only once where I’ve actually interacted with someone – our guest’s counterpart.”

“I imagine that it has its advantages.” Knives tapped his chin thoughtfully. “An extra finger or two can make all the difference in certain situations.”

“Don’t turn your interactions with him into a science experiment; heaven knows just what he’s been through, and I don’t want to trigger any bad memories.”

Knives shook his head. “Of course I won’t. As they are guests, they will receive the hospitality that they require. I won’t ask such questions of them unless they are fine with it.”

“Good.” Maria gave a curt nod. “I’m going to go and tend to my Berry trees; it looks like they should be able to give us a good harvest this month, and we’re definitely going to need some of them if we’re going to help get their strength back up.”

Knives gave a slight nod in reply, turning to attend to his greenhouse. “Yes, yes. I’ll be back in the house in time for dinner.”

Maria nodded again, then slipped out and made her way to the other bio-dome, the ground under her feet shifting from sand to stone as she made her way over to the glass dome she had been stepping out of when Vash had come back with their unexpected guests.

“I should probably check in with Chaos and see how well the Guild’s doing later,” Maria murmured to herself as she knelt in front of one of the trees. “He’s got to have his paws full with Pika’s clan and leading the Guild in our place.” Grabbing a large basket that was almost as tall as she was from its spot next to the house, she started plucking what looked like little blue oranges off the branches. “Maybe I should call Wildfire, too, and let her know that I might be away for a while. If _those_ two showed up on _my_ doorstep, there’s no way that it could be a coincidence.”

It didn’t take Maria too long to work her way through the berry trees, picking off everything from the blue oranges to pink, heart-shaped fruits and blue strawberries. Harvest finished, she hefted the stuffed basket effortlessly over one shoulder and carried it inside the house, where she dropped it in the kitchen.

“Okay, now what else – oh, right!”

Moments later, Maria was carrying another basket into a room hidden under the stairs leading to the second floor, her nose crinkling as she dropped the basket of sweaty dark clothes in front of a washing machine that looked oddly out-of-place in a wooden house in the middle of the desert. “Man, when was the last time those two took a shower? I’m probably going to have to send these things through the wash multiple times before the smell’s gone.” She paused. “I should _probably_ check these things for hidden pockets…wouldn’t want who-knows-what getting ruined.”

A meticulous search revealed that there weren’t any hidden pockets, although the black trench coat the six-fingered man had been wearing had two journals and a strange collection of writing utensils – including a quill pen, of all things – and tools that were clearly out of this world, if the strange-looking screwdriver was anything to go by.

Maria bundled the dark clothes into the washing machine and set it to work before dunking her hands in the sink that Vash usually used for his own clothes. “Yuck, that stuff was soaked through. They were definitely unprepared for the desert if they were sweating that much.” She flicked the water off her hands and gathered up the items she’d removed from the clothes before taking them back upstairs to the guest room.

Vash looked up as she came in, raising an eyebrow. “What’s all that?”

“Found them in their clothes.” Maria carefully placed the pile of items on the desk, making sure the tools she had picked up weren’t jostled around too much. “It looks like one of them might be keeping a record of where they’ve been. I don’t think it’d be a good idea if we looked through it.”

Vash nodded. “Definitely not. That is their privacy we’re talking about.” He frowned. “You talked to Knives.”

“I did.” Maria picked up the empty plate that had once had Vash’s lunch. “Do you want to know things, too?”

Vash shook his head. “No. I’m not gonna pry. Is he going to?”

“I don’t think he will for now.” Maria sighed irritably and ran her fingers through her hair. “I really wish he knew that there are just some questions you don’t ask strangers. I’m glad that he at least knows enough to hold off from asking them, though.”

“He’s really curious about the man with six fingers.” Vash paused. “And with all the guns they have….”

Maria’s mouth shifted into a straight line. “If they are dangerous, I can call in a few favors and make sure that they don’t hurt anyone else nearby. But we won’t know for sure until they wake up.”

Vash nodded. “Yeah. Just looking at them, though…they look more beat up than humans should be.”

Maria looked at the two men lying on the bed, stripped down to their underclothes, and gave a nod. “Yeah. It makes you wonder just how much they’ve been through that could cause that kind of damage.”

“And what’s going to happen when they wake up.” Vash’s frown deepened. “I wonder what they’ve been through, and what they were doing out in the middle of nowhere.”

“Well, my guess is that they might have been running from something, or trying to get somewhere, maybe.” Maria paused. “They might not have known where it was that they ended up, and that would definitely explain the fact that they were unprepared.”

“So…interplanetary?”

Maria shook her head. “It’s bigger than that.”

Vash groaned and put his head in his hands. “Of _course_ it is.” He looked up. “So, what? We’ve got a couple World Jumpers on our hands?”

“I doubt it; people can become inter-dimensional travelers without taking up the title. We aren’t going to know for sure until they wake up, though.” Maria tapped the empty plate against her leg. “I’ll take over up here for the overnight hours. Knives can keep an eye on them tomorrow morning until noon.”

Vash gave a thumbs-up. “Sounds good! What are you planning on doing until then?”

“Well, first I’m going to call Wildfire. If anybody’s going to want to know that I’m going to be gone for a while, it’s probably going to be her. She can get the message through to the others.”

Vash frowned. “You really think that—“

“Considering where these guys come from? It’s _highly_ likely.” Maria sighed and shook her head. “I’d never thought that I would ever end up going to their world, to be honest. It just...seemed too far out of reach. And then _these_ guys show up and I’m proven completely wrong.” She gave a dry laugh. “Wildfire’s really going to think that I attract the _worst_ kind of trouble now.”

“Since when haven’t we?” Vash muttered.

Maria sighed and nodded in agreement. “It certainly does feel that way, doesn’t it?”

Vash hummed. “Tell Wildfire I say ‘hi.’ And that Wolfwood’s, Livio’s, and Millie’s kids are still keeping that orphanage running.”

Maria gave a small smile in response. “Will do.” She slipped out of the room and walked down the hall to her room and stepped inside, closing the door behind her. Her left hand instantly went to her ear as a frown appeared on her face.

“Come on, pick up pick up pick up….”

_Beep!_

_::Hey, kid, it’s been a while – what’s up? Other than how old we are::_

The voice on the other end sounded older than Maria remembered it being from centuries past – no longer a young woman, but not quite an old one, either.

“I might be going away for a while.” Maria paused. “We’ve got a couple inter-dimensionally displaced guests who didn’t know how bad the desert is.”

 _::Anybody we know personally?::_ The other voice was much more alert, now.

“No, but one of them is a counterpart to someone we helped a long time ago. He’s got six fingers, Wildfire. On both his hands.”

 _::Six fingers? Wait – the only guy I’ve even heard about that might be dimensionally displaced is that Gravity Falls guy. And you’ve got_ two _guests?::_

“Yeah. The six-fingered man and someone else who looks pretty similar to him.”

Wildfire knew what it was that Maria was referring to, even without the girl saying much else. _::Which alternate reality?::_

Maria paused for a moment, then let out a reluctant sigh. “The fandom’s name for their reality is ‘Blind Faith’.”

_::…Scrap::_


	2. Night Events

The two men hadn’t stirred by the time night fell; the temperature outside dropped suddenly as some of the five moons became visible in the starlit sky.

Maria looked out the window of the guest bedroom for a moment, clutching a book in one hand as she looked at the red, fifth moon on the horizon. “They’re probably telling stories in December about what happened all those years ago, now – those who don’t know, anyway.”

Vash stretched out his stiff muscles, causing his back to pop in a number of places. “Yeah. It is that time again, isn’t it. And the people who were there aren’t exactly around to correct anybody.” He sighed and shook his head. “Man, if Meryl was still around, she’d be putting a stop that _really_ quickly.”

Maria chuckled softly, then sighed. “Yeah, she would. And Millie’d be right next to her. She’d probably be dragging Wolfwood and Livio into it, too.”

Vash smirked. “Yeah.” The smirk faded, and he let out sigh. “I really miss them.”

“You’re not the only one.” Maria took hold of Vash’s arm and gently squeezed. “They did live full lives, though, and we can still see the kids.”

Vash gave a small smile and nodded in agreement. “Yeah.” He chuckled. “I’m thinking about paying the orphanage a visit tomorrow.”

“The kids’ll love that.” Maria grinned, then pushed him towards the door. “Now, shoo. You’ve got to get some sleep.”

“And you don’t?” Vash gave Maria a playful grin.

“You know that I don’t need it as much anymore. Now go.” Maria gave Vash a hug, then pushed him out of the room with a quiet laugh. 

Maria turned to look at the two guests on the bed and let out a sigh, her smile fading. “Looks like I’ve got a long night ahead of me.” Looking down at the book she had brought in with her, she sat down on the chair Vash had been in a moment ago, making herself as comfortable as she could on the hard wood before opening the book.

_Let’s see…I know I recorded a list of the alternate universes in here somewhere…maybe I could get a few hints as to what could end up coming…._

Maria paused when she saw an odd-looking postcard that didn’t quite look like a real one, despite the hand-drawn wornness that it seemed to have. “Here we go.” Her fingers slowly went down the list, pausing every few lines. “Classic…Monster…Tra – aha!” A moment later, a frown appeared on her face. “Great. Looks like I really am going to be going in blind for this.” She sighed and closed the book. “Considering how young those two still look…I wonder how their world is. Would I really need to stay there and help?”

Maria tapped the cover of her book with a frown, the flame-embossed cover with a phoenix on the cover almost seeming to shimmer in the moonlight. _They’re young-ish still, probably forties or fifties by their home world’s timeline, maybe, but it’s too hard to tell with all the stress they’ve probably gone through. And who knows how many worlds they’ve traveled through and how many unrecorded years they’ve lived? I know that time doesn’t affect me as much as it probably should because of—_

“N-no! I w-w-won’t let you ha-have him!”

Maria’s head shot up at the yell, her eyes widening in surprise. She leapt to her feet, the book falling to the floor with a _whump_ as she quickly ran over to the bed and grabbed the thrashing arms of the six-fingered man.

“G-get b-back!” The man yanked his arms away from Maria’s hands with surprising strength and lashing out with a foot in the same moment.

_Thunk!_

“Gugh!” Maria’s back collided with the wall, and she shook her head, wincing. “Ow, he’s got a lot of strength for a guy who shouldn’t be moving.” She looked up at him again, frowning, and started towards the bed with the intent to hold him down again when the man with the eye patch shifted in his sleep.

“I’m still here, brother.” The man with the eye patch grabbed the other in what looked like a one-armed hug, wrapping his arm over the other man. “I won’t let them take me. Wherever we go, we go together.”

The six-fingered man struggled for a moment, but then seemed to realize who It was that was hugging him, and he slowly stopped trying to get away. However, the two men both remained somewhat tense in their sleep.

Maria blinked, wide-eyed as she watched the odd group on the bed relax. “Whoa.”

Vash appeared in the doorway, wearing a worn T-shirt and gray sweatpants. Knives joined him a moment later, wearing similar attire.

“I heard yelling.” Vash looked concerned.

Maria shook her head, her wide-eyed expression changing to a more sympathetic one as she looked at the two men. “It looks like one of them has night terrors. We had the right idea about keeping them in the same room.” She nodded to the figures on the bed. “His brother managed to calm him down.”

“Night terrors?” Knives looked at the two guests with a surprised expression. “Are you certain that you won’t let us into their minds in order to assess the damage?”

“They’ve had trouble with attacks of the mental kind before; it could set off another night terror. We can’t separate them, either – that will make it worse.”

Vash swallowed and nodded. “What do you want to do about it, then?”

Maria cocked her head to one side for a moment, and her eyebrows shot up. “Hmm…there might be one thing that I can do.” She dropped a hand into one of her pockets and pulled out a sparkling, yellow-green feather that seemed to glow with its own energy in the moonlight. “One of Cress’ Lunar Wings should be able to keep them away.”

Maria was glad that some connections still remained in the places she had traveled before. Legendary Pokemon had a way of enduring and always being there to help that helped ease some of the stress off her shoulders.

“You think so?”

“Yeah. Knowing some of what’s happened to them…if it’s not Dark Arms-level, it’s pretty close.”

Vash and Knives exchanged looks at that.

“I believe I understand far better now why you requested I not ask them about their previous endeavors,” Knives noted.

Maria nodded. “I’m glad you do. Because these guys…they’re probably not going to trust us right away, considering everything that they’ve been through.” She twirled the Lunar Wing between her fingers as she leaned over the sleeping figures before placing it between the brothers. The Lunar Wing’s glow flickered for a moment, and what stiffness that remained with the sleeping figures faded as small, peaceful smiles crossed their faces.

Maria let out a sigh of relief and moved back to the chair. “Looks like it’s working. They should be able to sleep undisturbed for the rest of the night.”

Vash let out a similar sigh of relief. “That’s good.”

“I’m going to keep an eye on them all the same, though. If they’re having night terrors, there’s a chance that they’re going to wake up soon.” Maria frowned. “I know I wouldn’t want to stay asleep for long after one of those.”

Knives had a similar frown on his face. “Indeed. That would be wise.” His eyes moved, and he crouched down and picked up the book Maria had discarded. “Double-checking yourself?”

“Preparing for what could possibly come.” Maria took the book from Knives’ hands. “Unfortunately, it looks like no one carried it far enough that I could get so much as a hint about what’s really in store for these guys. I’ll have to check in on a few different timelines for possibilities and cross-reference when I can, or theorize on my own.” She sighed and shook her head. “Which is much harder when I’m one of the few people who remembers what the original material was in this dimension, much less actually invested myself into it.”

“You mean Wildfire won’t be able to help?” Vash frowned.

“I already tried to pick her brain. She said that she liked it when people _didn’t_ find ways to torture others and just stuck with the main material.” Maria snorted. “I doubt she’s going to be able to be of much help to us now, considering that age has finally managed to catch up to her and the others.”

“How much longer?”

Maria shook her head. “Wildfire hasn’t said. I don’t think she wants to say – she knows how badly I reacted to the others. She wants this friendship to last longer than it has, and I do, too. Neither one of us expected me to be the one to outlive everybody.” She shrugged and sighed. “I guess this dimension really is trying to cut ties with me.” She looked at the sleeping figures again before looking at Vash and Knives. “So, are we going to stay up all night? Or are you two going to go back to bed before we accidentally wake up our guests?”

“I’m going to go to bed.” Vash disappeared right on the heels of his own words.

Knives rolled his eyes and followed after him.

As soon as the two disappeared from sight, Maria let out a sigh and collapsed into the chair, causing it to creak under her weight. She opened her book to the back cover, where a few slightly faded, worn photos were taped to the last few pages.

“I really miss you guys.” Maria rubbed her thumb along the edge of the cover, sighing. “I know that it was so long ago, but…it still hurts, to not have you guys to talk to. Some days, I still wonder if I’m grown up, or just a kid through and through. I wish…that I had someone I could still look up to.”

Wet spots appeared on one corner of the back page, nearly hitting the corner of a photo where a group of six figures were standing together in front of what looked like an amusement park entrance. Maria, who was standing in the center below three slightly taller figures and behind two slightly shorter figures, had a grin on her face that was threatening to split her face in two.

Below the photo, in neat handwritten ink that was somewhat smeared, were the words “Disneyland, summer of 2014.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little conversation can reveal a lot about the state of the world. Or, rather, the state of "How many friends and family members is this girl going to outlive?"


	3. Introductions

Maria spent the rest of the night paging through the book, occasionally pausing for long minutes in order to read a page: sketches of people in tribal clothing, strange creatures that looked like they came out of a kid’s cartoon, and symbols that looked vaguely like faces and strange, alien writing.

 _I wonder…what would_ he _think of this, since he kept a journal?_

“Graargghh….”

Maria’s head shot up from the book when she heard the gagging cough, and she caught sight of the man with the eye patch starting to stir. His brother stirred in his sleep, as well, his eyes tightening shut for a moment before they started to crack open.

Maria quickly glanced at the window – _it’s got to be early morning –_ then leapt to her feet, putting the book on the chair before moving towards the bed.

Just the simple act of rising to her feet was enough to get the men’s attention, and she froze as soon as one and a half sets of eyes burned holes right into hers.

Maria held up her hands, then flapped her jacket, hoping that showing them she didn’t have any weapons on her would help them calm down at least a little. “I thought you guys might wake up soon, but I didn’t expect it to be _this_ soon. You guys do remember where you last were, right?”

The man with the eye patch frowned at the question. “You can’t be the one who found us. Your hair’s not stickin’ up like a broom.” He coughed again, then rubbed his throat with his tongue sticking out before reaching up and taking the wet rag off his forehead.

Maria moved to the bucket that was at the foot of the bed, glad that she had some foresight to bring up a couple mugs during the night in case this happened. Dunking one in the bucket, she brought it over to his side of the bed – which also happened to be his blind side, but that didn’t seem to bother him very much. “You two are severely dehydrated – I wouldn’t suggest moving for a while, since you nearly got heat stroke.”

The man eyed the mug for a moment, lifting his head so that he could see its contents. “Water?”

“Yes. Your body needs it.”

The man grunted. “Can’t argue with that.” He pushed on the bed in order to give him some leverage, and Maria helped him get a few gulps down his throat.

The man wiped his mouth with the back of his hand while Maria put the mug down on the nightstand near his side of the bed. “How long?”

“Vash brought you in yesterday afternoon; it’s morning now.” Maria retreated to the foot of the bed and filled the other mug with water and brought it over to the other side of the bed. “You’re lucky my nephew found you, you know; you were about five miles away from the nearest city, and hardly anybody comes out here. We’re pretty secluded, but we get by well enough on our own.”

The man with the eye patch gave another grunt as the six-fingered man slowly turned so that he could see Maria fully – as well as the contents of the mug. There was a defensive expression on his face as Maria approached.

“T’s just water,” Eyepatch said in his rasping voice. He blinked a couple times, then frowned. “Wait -- Broom-head’s your _nephew?_ You two don’t look related – and he looked older than you, too.”

“Looks can be deceiving.” Maria smiled a little as she tipped the mug towards Six; he quickly mimicked his brother’s movements. “Besides, Vash and his twin brother, Knives, who you’ll probably meet later, are my _adopted_ nephews – I never said that we were related by blood. My name’s Maria, by the way. And who are you two, so I can to lecture you properly on how you should _really_ prepare for going out into the desert when it’s over one hundred degrees in the early morning?”

Eyepatch let out a cough that sounded like an attempted laugh as Six finished taking thirsty gulps from the mug in Maria’s hands. “Look, kid, we weren’t expecting it to be _that_ bad.” His eyes trailed to where Maria had placed their clothes, cleaned and neatly folded, alongside their weapons and other items on the desk in one corner of the room. “I thought we were prepared enough.”

“You had hardly any water on you from what I saw,” Maria replied, frowning. “Probably the only thing _you_ were prepared for was a raid on a sandworm’s nest, and there are none of those things around here. Besides, they live underground, not where they can be baked in the sun.”

Eyepatch snorted. “We weren’t hunting sandworms. We were hunting giant monsters.”

“The only ‘giant monsters’ that live on _this_ planet _are_ sandworms.” Maria noticed that Six was done with his water, so she put the mug on the nightstand and moved to the foot of the bed, where both the men could see her clearly. “Everyone knows that.”

The two men exchanged looks.

“And everyone _also_ knows that black is the _worst_ color to wear on this planet. Ever.”

Eyepatch weakly raised his hands. “Okay, okay. So we’re not hunting monsters.” He grinned. “We’re bounty hunters.”

Maria raised an eyebrow. “Then you’d know that we haven’t had any trouble in this area for the last fifty years.”

“Mercenaries?”

Now Eyepatch was just fishing for an excuse that could work as a backstory; Maria knew how these things went and knew how to poke holes in lies without missing a beat.

“Mercenaries would be prepared to go for a _long_ time without money for food or water, which you two weren’t.” Maria put her hands on her hips. “And you still haven’t given me something to call you that sounds half-decent.”

“Well, what are you calling us, then?”

Maria gave an aggravated sigh. “I’m referring to the both of you _in my head_ by the most distinguishable physical feature each of you two have. I’m guessing that you’d rather not be referred to by how many fingers you have or whether or not you’re wearing an eye patch – despite the fact that both are _very_ cool.”

Six winced, then blinked as Maria quickly added the last bit.

“Besides, I gave you _my_ name; it would be fair if you gave me yours.”

Eyepatch scowled. “All right, all right; fine. I’m Stan; he’s Ford.” He jabbed a thumb at Six. “Happy?”

Maria’s sour frown retracted into something softer as she gave a slight smile. “Yeah. Stan and Ford. Okay; I can remember that.”

Ford shifted his position on the bed, then his hand came into contact with the Lunar Wing that was lying on the bed between them. He blinked in confusion and picked it up, nudging Stan weakly in the process.

 “Huh?” Stan looked down at the feather. “What this thing? Doesn’t look something we picked up.”

“It’s called a Lunar Wing.” Maria rested her hands against the board at the end of the bed, leaning forward. “It comes from a creature called Cresselia, which is said to represent the crescent moon. She’s said to bring good dreams wherever she goes, and just one feather can keep nightmares away.” She gave a small, sad smile. “Even night terrors.”

Ford’s and Stan’s gazes went to Maria abruptly at that.

“You—“

“We decided that we’d take turns keeping an eye on you guys in case anything happened. I was in here when night fell and it was pretty startling to hear Ford suddenly start yelling at the top of his lungs. Woke Vash and Knives too, which isn’t surprising – we’ve all had night terrors at one point or another. I know what having one of those feels like.”

Stan frowned. “You, kid? Really?”

Maria stood upright and spread out her hands. “Yes, really. This planet isn’t one for the faint of heart; it never has been. The people in December – the town five miles from here – could tell you tales of monstrous, angel-like creatures who fought to the death and put a giant crater in one of our moons. Of course, the stories have started to get out of hand in the last seventy years or so that they’ve been told, but the main core of the story is still the same: two monsters disguised as humans walked among us for a hundred fifty years, and one nearly succeeded in wiping out all human life on the planet. The other made sure to show him the error of his ways, and the two retreated into exile and haven’t bothered the humans since.”

Stan’s frown deepened at that, but he said nothing.

“But I’m getting off track. You two need to recover from severe dehydration. After a day or two, we’ll take you guys to December so that you can get a ride to wherever it is that you were hoping to get to in the first place. Maybe we can get you back to wherever you came from so that you can make sure those people know not to send you unprepared into the desert again.” Maria smirked, then frowned. “Speaking of which, you still haven’t told me what you were really doing out there in the desert.”

Stan gave Maria a scowl. “What, it’s not enough that we were out there unprepared?”

“Nope. Everybody’s got a reason to be out and away from home. I’m guessing you guys do, too. And whatever it is you tell me, I’ll be able to see through most lies.”

“Seriously?” Stan let out another cough, and Maria was back at his side again with a full mug of water. “Thanks.”

Maria hummed in reply as she tilted the mug so that Stan could swallow its contents; she moved one hand as he did so and touched his forehead. “Well, you’re not as hot as you were when you came in; I’m glad we got the air cooling system installed in the house.”

Stan finished off the water. “Yeah, I was gonna ask about that. Kinda a must-have for living out here, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, definitely.” Maria set Stan’s mug to one side, then pulled the bucket over to Ford’s side of the bed and filled his. “So, the desert?”

“Oh, yeah.” Stan paused. “How often to you get visitors from off the planet?”

Maria blinked at the question while Ford’s eyes flicked over to look at his brother. “Off the planet? Not very often, to be honest – most people who come to Gunsmoke are just trying to help us terraform certain areas so that it’s more livable and not ‘barely survivable’. My nephews and I used to help them out, but we haven’t really had anyone try to contact us in a while.” She handed Ford his mug. “If anyone would come to ‘visit,’ they’re either from Earth because they’re curious about how we can survive up here, or they’re from Cybertron because they want to help advance the technology around here a little. The locals don’t like outsiders very much, though – we’ve been living without outside help for over two hundred years; at this point, having terraformed property of any kind is considered something of a luxury.”

“Damn Transformers and their wars,” Stan muttered under his breath.

Maria frowned, setting a now empty mug aside as Ford made a noise that sounded like he was no longer quite as thirsty as he had been. “I’ll have you know that the last recorded civil war on Cyberton was nearly a thousand years ago. They still have their weapons, sure, but they haven’t done anything against each other ever since Unicron was imprisoned.”

Stan and Ford stiffened, blinking in surprise at the comment.

“So, what rock did you crawl out from under, if you didn’t know about how the allies of Earth and Gunsmoke were doing on their own world?” Maria put her hands on her hips, frowning at the two of them.

Stan raised an eyebrow at his brother; Ford made a motion with the hand that was still holding the Lunar Wing, drawing a circle in the air and poking a hole in it. After a moment, Stan gave a nod.

“Ever had any inter-dimensional travelers?” Stan raised an eyebrow at Maria.

Maria’s expression brightened at that; now they were getting somewhere. “Not many; some of the older Cybertronians have said that they’ve crossed over dimensional boundaries a few times, but most people don’t believe them. Gunsmoke has its own group of travelers, too, but no one’s heard from them in decades. So, you guys are travelers, too?”

“Yeah, if you want to put it that way.” Stan shrugged. “This must be some backwater planet if you don’t get very many.”

“Yeah, I guess so. And it would explain all the technology you had with you and the limited amount of water.” Maria frowned. “Which I still think you should have had more of, regardless of where it was you were before. Travelers should be prepared for anything that could be thrown at them.”

Stan waved off Maria’s glaring frown. “Yeah, yeah, you’ve said that more than enough. You said there was an Earth in this dimension? Think you could get us there?”

“Maybe. I don’t have very many connections with the Cybertronians who run the Space Bridge, or even with people back on Earth.” Maria folded her arms across her chest. “Why do you ask?”

Stan shrugged one shoulder. “Well, we don’t really like sticking around for very long in one place. If you could just get us somewhere where we can figure out what dimension we could go to next, then we’ll be out of your hair before you know it.”

“But I don’t _want_ you out of my hair – not while you’re still recovering. Besides, the people in this dimension don’t really make it a _point_ to travel to other universes the way that you seem to be. I doubt that they’re going to be of much help, since they don’t have the tech for it.”

Stan scowled and muttered something under his breath that sounded vaguely like a curse.

“I do know someone who does some inter-dimensional traveling, though.”

Stan and Ford both looked at Maria sharply at that.

“I’ll get you in touch with them after I’m sure you’re not going to collapse from heat stroke; health is pretty important, you know.”

“Kid, it’s hard to forget that with you reminding us every few seconds,” Stan groused. “Couldn’t you just lay off that?”

“Probably.” Maria shrugged. “But I want to make sure that you’re not going to forget.”

“Maria!” Vash called from below. “Breakfast!”

“I’ll be down in a minute!” Maria called back.

_Grrrgrgrgrgrl_

Maria’s eyebrows rose as her and Stan’s gaze moved to his middle. “I’ll make sure to bring you two something to eat. Just give me a few minutes.” She went over to the door, and stopped at the chair to pick up her journal in such a way that the two men could see the cover before she slipped out and went downstairs to the kitchen.

The smell of pancakes was more than enough to remind Maria of just how hungry she was after spending the entire night wide awake.

“I heard you yelling.” Vash put a stack of pancakes on the table, which Maria immediately helped herself to. “Are they awake?”

Maria nodded. “Yeah.”

“Have they told you anything?” Knives speared a pancake with his fork and pulled it onto his plate, then started cutting it into neat squares.

“Well, I’ve gotten their names, and confirmation that they are inter-dimensional travelers.” Maria sliced her pancakes like a pizza and coated them thoroughly in syrup before spearing a slice and swallowing. “Nothing else yet, though. The one who has been doing all the talking was pretty reluctant to admit even that much.”

Vash’s eyebrows came together as he took his own portion of pancakes and slathered them in syrup. “Sounds like they’ve had a lot of bad run-ins with people.”

“Are their names false?” Knives gave Maria a pointed look.

Maria shook her head. “The one with the eye patch is Stan; he’s done all the talking so far. The other one’s Ford. I’m lucky that they didn’t give any false ones.” She paused. “I’m surprised that they didn’t, actually.”

“Think they trust you?” Vash cocked his head to one side curiously.

Maria considered the question, then shrugged. “I don’t think so yet. It’s probably going to take a little time before I can honestly say that they do.” She speared another portion of pancakes and swallowed it.

“So, now what?” Vash swallowed the remains of his pancakes as Maria attacked hers. “I mean, they’re going to get better, sure, but what are they going to do _after_ that?”

Maria wiped what remained of the syrup off her face with a napkin, concealing a small smile. “Well, the plan is to get them to people who’ll be able to get them to wherever it is they want to go next. I’m guessing that they might be traveling across dimensions for a reason, so if we figure out where they want to go, we can get them there.”

“You haven’t told them about who you are?” Knives raised an eyebrow.

“I want them to be able to trust me as Maria the local before I fully unleash Maria the World Jumper. I’m willing to drop hints before letting them know about it, because I don’t know whether or not they’ve actually heard about people like me, so I’m going to wait until they figure it out.” Maria took her plate and silverware to the sink and dropped them into it before she pulled a cooking pot and a cutting board out of the cupboard next to the sink. “They might ask questions from you guys, too – Stan already knows you as ‘broom-head,’ by the way, Vash.”

Vash spluttered, blue-green eyes wide in surprise. “But that’s –“

“He’s not—“

“He’s not a counterpart to Wolfwood, no.” Maria cut Knives off as she started pulling blue orange-shaped fruits and pink, heart-shaped ones from the basket she had brought in the day before. “If he sees you, though, he might call you that if he doesn’t remember your name. Just a warning.”

Vash blinked at that, then nodded. “Thanks for the heads-up.”

“They’re going to need some time to get their energy back.” Maria’s fingers danced over the set of kitchen knives they kept on the counter before choosing one and starting to chop the fruits up into little pieces and tossing them into the bowl. “We’ll probably end up taking turns getting food and water up to them. I’m planning on starting them off with soup.”

“Wise choice.” Knives’ tone was dry.

Maria didn’t so much as glance back at him as she stuck her head in the fridge and pulled out white meat wrapped in plastic. Unwrapping it, she grabbed a glass pan and stuck it in a microwave. “Remember what I told you, Knives.”

“Yes, yes, you don’t need to repeat yourself.” Knives rose to his feet and took his plate to the sink. “I believe I’ll avoid speaking with them until they’re more comfortable with you. You are more…socially adequate.”

Maria hummed in response as Knives washed the dishes, then pulled the chicken out of the microwave and started chopping that up, too. “It’s up to you.”

Vash dropped a skillet on the stove. “You’re making that?”

“Well, I don’t see why I shouldn’t. They need the energy as much as they need the water.” Maria looked up at Vash. “I thought you were planning on visiting the orphanage today.”

“Yeah, well, that was until I heard they’d woken up.” Vash rubbed the back of his head, giving a bright smile. “And if they’re up, I may as well meet ‘em, you know?”

Maria chuckled. “Yeah, I know. Just give me a few minutes to get this together, all right? Then we can take it up to them.”

“Sounds good!”

**Change in POV**

“That kid’s definitely holding something back.”

Ford nodded in agreement to Stan’s statement. “Th-that book w-wasn’t mine.”

“Yeah, I saw the cover. It might have a connection to what she isn’t telling us. And that bit about the monsters….” Stan raised an eyebrow. “Think we should trust her?”

Ford hesitated at the question, biting his lower lip. “Not sure yet.”

“Yeah, I’m not sure either. We’re definitely going to have to get some answers from her when she gets back.”


	4. World Jumper

It didn’t take Maria too long to get the meal together: a large pot of chicken soup, which she quickly divided between two bowls sitting on two trays. She gave Vash a wide grin and picked up one of the trays before starting up towards the second floor. He quickly grabbed the other and followed.

“Okay, guys.” Maria stepped into the guest bedroom, getting Stan’s and Ford’s attention. “This should help get some of your strength back.”

“What is it?” Stan frowned. “Smells like chicken – do you even _have_ chicken here?”

“Yup.” Maria put the tray with one bowl in front of Stan. “And there _is_ chicken in this soup -- plus a couple of other things that I get exclusively around here.”

Vash put his tray in front of Ford with a smile, only to get something of a defensive glare in response. “So, uh…Stan and Ford, right? I’m Vash. Are you guys brothers?”

Stan blinked at the question, exchanging looks with Ford for a moment. “Uh…yeah. Why do you ask?”

“You look alike, but enough that people can tell you apart.” Vash smiled. “Kinda like me and my brother.”

“I hope you’re not saying that just because of the eye patch and--”

“No, no!” Vash held up his hands, still smiling. “It’s not because of that, definitely not.”

“I can see why you say _you’re_ the aunt in this situation,” Stan muttered.

Maria laughed. “Vash can be serious when he wants to be, and childish when he isn’t.”

Vash stuck out his tongue at Maria, causing her to scowl playfully in response before letting out a chuckle.

Stan lifted a hand and grabbed the spoon off the tray, licking his lips. “Chicken soup does sound good right about now. It’s been years since I’ve had the stuff.”

Ford nodded in agreement.

“I think you’ll like my version,” Maria hummed. “There’s a couple secret ingredients in there that’ll give you some energy back and help you recover from the heat stroke a little faster. I had some help putting together this recipe from an old friend.”

Never they mind that the “old friend” happened to be a pirate chef with a habit of kicking men who didn’t like his cooking.

“Well, anything to get out of bed faster.” Stan nudged his brother with an elbow, grinning, before he swallowed a spoonful of the soup. “Wow, that tastes good!”

Maria gained a wide smile. “That’s what I was hoping to hear!” She leaned against the wall by the door while Vash took the chair. “I’ve got more on the stove downstairs, and I’m planning on keeping up with it until I know for a fact you aren’t going to collapse because of dehydration or exhaustion anytime soon.”

Stan slurped up a noodle from the soup, then grinned. “And how long do you expect that to be?”

“A week at most, probably. When you can walk up and down the stairs and get food yourself without keeling over or leaning against anything, then we can talk about where you guys wanted to go next.” Maria’s confident smile faded slightly when she saw the looks she was getting from Stan and Ford. “What is it?”

Stan put down his spoon, Ford doing the same thing a moment later. “Kid, we can tell you’re not telling us everything about you.”

Maria blinked at the statement, then gave a half-hearted shrug while the smile on Vash’s face wavered. “I wasn’t exactly trying to hide it. You just didn’t ask the right questions.”

Stan blinked. “What, seriously? You’d open yourself up just like that?”

“Well, not _everything_ , but a good deal of it.” Maria shrugged again. “I’ve had night terrors too, remember? They don’t happen all that often anymore, but they still catch me by surprise sometimes.”

Vash shuddered. “You’re not the only one who gets caught by surprise.”

Maria gave an absent nod in response, her smile disappearing completely as she glanced away from them.

“All right then. Who are you _really_ , kid? You and that adopted broomhead.” Stan looked between the two of them with his one eye, as though he could figure out just what they were by stripping them down with his sight.

Vash bit his lower lip. “That’s a…pretty loaded question.”

“It’ll probably be more easily explained if you look at this.” Maria reached under her jacket and pulled out the book she had been looking at when Stan and Ford woke up. “It doesn’t have everything in it, but it does have a good deal of information, if you want to have a look.”

Ford’s eyes widened, and he suddenly looked like he wanted to leap out of bed and make a lunge for the book.

“You’re seriously willing to let us have a look at the thing?” Stan raised an eyebrow.

“Well, if it’ll make you feel any better about who I am, I don’t see why not.” Maria walked over and handed the journal to Ford, who took it carefully in his hands. “Besides, you two might have seen some of the things that I have.”

Ford opened the book and started paging through it, eyes scanning the pages as quickly as they could allow.

Stan frowned. “While that’s all fine and dandy, I’d like to hear it from you.”

Maria shrugged. “If that’s what you want, fine. Is there anything specific that you want to know about?”

Stan dropped a fist onto the tray in front of him, causing his soup to ripple. “Those damn Transformers. You clearly know something about them if you can pinpoint when their last war was and what the name of their supposed ‘chaos god’ is.”

“Unicron isn’t a myth.” Maria held up a finger. “He’s a rather nasty bundle of dark energy with a soul that possessed Megatron near the end of the war – after Bumblebee skewered him through with the Star Saber. Optimus Prime trapped him in a vessel that could contain pure-energy objects or beings, after which he sacrificed himself in order to take the AllSpark back to Cybertron’s core and let new life spring up. The Prime got resurrected later when the Quintessans tried to conquer Earth.” She gave a dark chuckle. “We sure showed those five-faced jellyfish that Cybertronians aren’t toys they can mess with. As far as we’re concerned, they’re never coming to this corner of the universe again, or else they’re going to get a real nasty beating from everybody.”

Stan’s frown deepened. “Kid, if this took place nearly a thousand of years ago, why are you talking about it like you were _there?_ ”

“Because I was. Vash wasn’t, though.”

Stan’s eye widened. “What?”

Ford nudged Stan frantically, getting his brother’s attention. He pointed at the book in his hands and handed it over to Stan before holding a hand to Stan’s ear and whispering something into it.

Maria’s ears almost seemed to twitch, but she didn’t strain them; she wasn’t planning on trying to hear what it was that Ford was saying.

Stan gave his brother a wide-eyed look before opening the book himself and starting to read through it, flipping his eye patch up and revealing what looked like a robotic eye as he started to work through the pages, faster and faster.

“What the hell is this?!” Stan glared up at Maria as he waved the book around. “Half the stuff in this exists in other dimensions – and we’ve only _heard_ about some of them!”

“Well, if you know about the Cybertronians, what else are you familiar with?” Maria cocked her head to one side, curious.

“Does it matter? The point is that you shouldn’t be able to know about half of this stuff if this dimension doesn’t put stock in travelers coming in from other ones.” Stan threw the book at the end of the bed. “My brother thinks you’re the one you were talking about earlier – that inter-dimensional traveler or whatever who can get us off this rock.”

Maria’s eyebrows shot up at that, and she grinned widely. “Correct-a-mundo. Ya got me.”

Ford’s eyes widened, and he quickly motioned to the desk where all their stuff had been placed, desperately motioning towards the pad of paper that Maria had removed from his jacket earlier. Vash grabbed it and a pen and handed them over, Ford snatching them out of his hands before writing vigorously.

Ford turned the pad around. _We’ve heard rumors and stories from some of the beings you have recorded about in that book. Now that you have admitted to being a traveler, I must know – are you the World Jumper of whom they speak? The Fire Storm?_

Stan leaned over and caught sight of what Ford had written. He gave a short bark of laughter. “This kid? The Fire Storm? There’s no way that someone like this could be that powerful—“

“He’s right.”

Stan and Ford looked over at Maria as she walked away from the wall and stopped at the foot of the bed.

“I am the World Jumper who has been called Fire Storm, but the Cybertronians call me Flare-Up. I have also gone by Maria White, and I was born with the name Maria Carlsdale.” Maria gave a bow. “I am that World Jumper.”

Stan snorted while Ford’s jaw dropped. “Yeah, right. Like I’m going to believe that some kid who lives with her two nephews is the all-powerful World Jumper who’s saved all kinds of worlds a gazillion times.”

“Would you like me to prove it?” Maria stepped back from the bed a step and put her hands behind her back. “Go ahead; ask me any question that the World Jumper you speak of would only know the answer to.”

Ford quickly turned his writing pad around. _What device does the Fire Storm use in order to summon her allies?_

Maria reached under her jacket again and pulled out a red and black device that had a half red, half white sphere on the back. “I use my PokeDex, or Pokémon Encyclopedia, to summon some of my allies. I can’t get all of them all the time, though – some Pokémon are busy creatures, and others are needed at certain times in order to keep their world in balance. I can show people data entries on my allies as well.” She walked over and held it out to Ford. “You can have a look at it, but be careful – hitting this button could summon the Pokémon you’re looking at, and some of them are larger than our house.” She pointed to a round, half-red, half-white button that was located at the top of the front of the device.

Ford’s eyes widened, and he carefully took the PokeDex from Maria’s hands and opened it up. A moment later, he was scrolling through entries, occasionally pausing in order to have a look at one entry or another.

Stan grumbled something under his breath, but he did seem at least a little bit impressed. He leaned over when Ford tapped his arm, and his eyebrows shot up. “Huh. That’s a Cresselia, huh? Didn’t think it’d be so purple from the wing thing.”

“Cress – that’s my friend’s name – plucks them from her underbelly when she knows that someone really needs them,” Maria explained. “I happened to have one that I hadn’t made use of in a while, so I thought it might be a good idea if you had it instead. You can’t really take one of those from her by force, though – that’d not only get her angry, but Dusk, too. He’s the Darkrai on the list.”

Ford’s mouth became a straight line while Stan frowned.

“Yeesh, this thing produces nightmares? What kind of person are you to keep him around?” Stan turned his gaze to Maria.

“He’s a good Pokémon, despite that.” Maria folded her arms across her chest, frowning. “The only thing he’s got going against him is a bad reputation to give people nightmares, which made Trainers think he was a bad Pokémon who had something against everyone. I made it a point to prove them wrong by having him join the PokeExplore Guild and make a team with Cress. Despite the fact that those two are opposites, they work really well together.”

Stan grunted. “What about the superpowers? Everyone we’ve talked to agrees that you have superpowers of some kind, kid.”

“If I demonstrate in here, I’m going to be in danger of burning the house down,” Maria replied flatly. “The planet super-boosts my fire powers, and just making a Fire Sphere in here could cause you two to have a relapse of heat stroke. I’m not going to risk it.”

Ford leaned over and whispered something into Stan’s ear.

“What about the armor, then?” Stan’s glare was unwavering as he looked Maria up and down. “You can show us that, at least.”

Maria frowned at that statement. “Hmm…well, yes, that is true.” She paused, considering the request for a moment, then nodded and took in a breath.

There was a flash, and Maria’s clothes shifted suddenly, becoming more skin tight and changing colors. When the flash faded, Maria put a pair of white-gloved hands on her hips, smirking at Stan and Ford as they took in her red, orange, and gray armor, eyes going from her red boots all the way up past the red armor on her abdomen and chest, to her orange-armored forearms and shoulder pads.

“…Okay, I guess you _could_ be Fire Storm.” Stan blinked a couple times, then frowned. “What are you doing on this backwater planet, anyway?”

“It’s my home.” Maria shrugged, her armor shifting back to her clothes. “I’ve lived for a thousand years, _boys,_ I’m going to have to have a change of scenery sometime. Or do you think I didn’t have a place I called home?”

Ford stopped writing at the question, then scribbled out what he had been about to ask Maria by way of his journal.

Vash looked unhappy. “Maria may have to leave in order to help other worlds out, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have a place where she can always rest her head. Her old home isn’t hers anymore, and Knives and I don’t fit in anywhere else, either.”

“You make it sound like this is a self-imposed exile,” Stan scoffed. “Like that story Maria said is being spread around in December.”

Vash stiffened. “I, uh…I think I’m going to check in on Knives and see how he’s doing – he could be nearly getting eaten by that flytrap from Venus.” He scrambled out of the room without another word.

Maria watched him go, then sighed and shook her head before looking back at Stan and Ford, who were both looking at the doorway.

Stan looked at Maria. “He’s one of them.”

“You’re quick to catch on.” Maria frowned. “Vash doesn’t like to talk about it too much – he and his brother still have the occasional night terror from those few years where everything came to a head. They could have destroyed each other, if Knives hadn’t been brought to his senses and I hadn’t called in a few friends.”

She remembered that day in Octovern when the sky had been full of Earth ships…and she had been filled with _fire._

Maria shook her head, pushing the memories from her mind. “It was a dark time for Gunsmoke, and I hadn’t been around at the time that this entire thing started, or else I would have done something in order to stop it early.”

“Is Knives still dangerous?” Stan’s eyes narrowed while Ford started paging through Maria’s book again, almost seeming to be looking for something.

“He’s realized the error of his ways, at least.” Maria paused. “He is also working to become used to the fact that he and humans are equals in most things. He’s taken to experimenting with plants in his greenhouse whenever he needs to think – he likes the quiet there. Because of that, he can be…socially inept.”

Ford looked up at the last two words Maria said, blinking.

“You mean the guy can’t handle parties?” Stan raised an eyebrow.

“Eh….” Maria made a “so-so motion. “He’s too blunt. If he sees something that interests him or that he thinks someone else will find interesting, he’ll go right up to them and ask questions that will usually drive people away from him – especially the personal ones.”

Ford’s gaze moved down to his six-fingered hand and he frowned. Maria saw where his eyes went.

“He thinks it’s fascinating that you have that many fingers.” Maria rocked on her feet a little as Ford and Stan looked at her again. “He also wants to know what sorts of things your travels have let you run into. I told him he couldn’t ask them until you felt like answering.”

Ford paled at Maria’s statement.

“Yeesh.” Stan shook his head. “Socially inept nothin’.” He eyed her, frowning. “ _You’re_ not going to ask, are you?”

Maria spread her hands and shrugged. “It’s your past; I’m not going to intrude.” She paused, her mouth tightening slightly. “Although, to be honest, there are some things I know about certain dimensions without even setting foot in them.”

Ford and Stan exchanged looks.

“Here.” Maria pulled another journal out that was identical to the first, except that it had a globe on the front cover instead of a phoenix. She opened it and turned to a certain page before handing it over to Ford and Stan to look at. “It’s not only people that can travel between dimensions; information can, too. I’ve been able to find out about all sorts of worlds just by turning on a TV or asking others what they think of one world or another – what sorts of changes could they see in alternate timelines; what would be interesting to look into for one world or another. And…your world is one of them.”

Stan took one look, then threw the book back at Maria, who caught it before it could hit her in the face. “Is this some kind of sick joke?! You’d better not be lying, kid, or—“

“I don’t lie when I talk about alternate dimensions.” Maria’s eyes narrowed sharply, and she leaned over the edge of the bed and glared at the two of them as she placed the second book next to the first. “This information is valid – I know that just by looking at the two of you. I have only a vague idea of what it is that you’ve been through, and by your night terrors the other night, I know that it still affects you. My memories of the World Collision and subsequent Continuum Shift affect me the same way still, some nights.”

Ford’s eyebrows shot up as he mouthed the words “World Collision.”

Stan snorted, unperturbed by the glare Maria was giving them. “Prove it.”

Maria gritted her teeth. “You want proof? Fine.” She stretched out her right hand over the bed. “Whatever you do, _don’t move._ You’ll break the illusion as it stands. Mirage Break!”

Something rippled out from Maria’s hand, and the room shifted and disappeared. Stan and Ford found themselves standing above a shadow-filled room, with Maria strapped to a steel table in her armor, gritting her teeth. Dark, humanoid monsters stood over her, holding mechanical tools.

_The monsters started tearing off her armor with clawed hands, beginning with her boots and exposing the circuitry and mechanical parts underneath._

**_“Destroy the leg struts,”_ ** _one monster hissed to another._ **_“We cannot have this one attempting to escape a second time.”_ **

_Maria – the illusion of her – gritted her teeth even more tightly as the monsters held drills and blowtorches over the exposed wiring and machinery. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to keep in the ear-splitting shriek that forced its way up and out of her as they attacked her exposed circuits, melting them together and cutting fuel lines, letting blue liquid drip out in small rivers before it abruptly stopped._

_Maria stopped screaming, her chest rising and lowering with deep, heavy breaths. Her eyes were shut tightly._

**_“If you would cooperate with us, this would be far easier,”_ ** _the monster hissed again._ **_“We can be quick and painless.”_ **

_Maria’s eyes snapped open. “Go stick that torch up your aft! I’ll never help you!”_

**_“So be it.”_ **

The image faded as the monsters advanced on Maria again, Stan and Ford both blinking wide eyes as they no longer found themselves hovering above the scene.

“And _that_ ,” Maria growled darkly, “was only a portion of the pain that I suffered at their hands.” She shook her head, pulling back her hand. “I am going to feel them rooting around in my chest tonight, tempted to remove my core and break my soul in two in order to break me.”

Ford and Stan exchanged looks.

“All that proves is that I have been nearly broken,” Maria said grimly. “I don’t expect you to trust me completely, and I don’t expect that you ever will. However, I am planning on assisting you as much as I can, and as much as you will let me.” She looked away from the two of them. “I’ll send Vash up later with lunch, if he is willing to come up. We’ll talk later about what dimension you want to travel to.”

With that, Maria walked out of the room without another word.

**Change in POV**

As soon as Maria was gone, Stan collapsed against the headboard of the bed and groaned. “Jeez, that kid’s personality did a fast turnaround. Thousand years old or not, she still looks and acts like a kid, though.”

Ford nodded slightly, still looking shaken by what he had seen. He cocked his head to one side for a moment, frowning a little. “I think sh-she’s hurting, too.”

“What, the kid? Seriously?”

Ford eyed the two books that were still sitting at the foot of the bed where Maria had left them. “Th-that memory was a b-bad one. A-and sh-she might have had worse.” Ford frowned at Stan.

“Well, what do you suggest we do about it?” Stan motioned to the journals with a dark glare. “You saw what she said our universe was called. Can you believe that? Of all the things she could have chosen, it had to be _that._ ”

Ford’s shuddered, remembering what it was that he had seen in Maria’s journal.

Stan snorted. “Hmph. Stupid kid; what was she thinking?”

Ford fixed him with a look.

Stan groaned at the noise, rubbing his head with one hand. “I know, I know, ‘she’s hurting too,’ right? With a memory like that, I’m not surprised.” He looked over at Ford. “Think we pushed a bit too hard?”

“Sh-she left herself open.” Ford paused. “Maria might have been expecting it. She definitely didn’t like it.”

“And she said she’s probably going to have a night terror tonight from that. Jeez….” Stan ran a hand through his graying hair, working out a couple of knots that had developed in his ponytail. “Think she’s still going to get us home?”

Ford nodded. “Sh-she did promise that.”

Stan nodded absently in response. “I hope she doesn’t drop us off a cliff as soon as we step out of that portal she’s got to have up her sleeve, because if she does, I’m going to kill her.”

Ford’s eyes hardened. He gave a nod, then let his eyes wander to the PokeDex that Maria had let him look at. He picked it up and started absently scrolling through the entries again, pausing every few seconds in order to look at the entries even more closely. Stan, curious, leaned over and watched as Ford perused the entries.

If they were going to be stuck in bed for a few days, Stan was going to look for entertainment of any kind.


	5. Warning Signs

“NO! WAI—GAH!”

Stan and Ford awoke with a synchronized jolt at the yell that came from somewhere in the house.

“What the hell?” Stan pushed his mussed-up hair out of his eyes, scowling. “Who yelled that?”

A keening cry rose up from the hallway, followed by a growling roar that almost seemed to shake the walls. That much noise was definitely a contrast to how quiet the house had been yesterday after Maria’s outburst the previous morning.

Heavy, fast footfalls hit the floor; Maria appeared in the doorway seconds later, eyes wide and face strangely pale.

“I need this!” Maria lunged forward and grabbed the PokeDex off the bed. “Cress! Dusk! I need your help with something! Come over as soon as you can!”

Ford and Stan exchanged looks while a shaken Vash appeared in the doorway, Knives standing right behind him with a dark look in his eyes.

Before Stan could ask what it was that was going on, a bright flash abruptly filled the room as two figures formed.

The crescent-themed creature hovering in the room dipped her head respectively. _“What seems to be the trouble, Guildmaster?”_

Ford’s eyes widened in surprise as the gentle voice seemed to echo in his head.

The shadow next to her turned his head, the white, smoky substance shifting as though there was a breeze in the room. His red eyes scanned Ford, making an unseen shudder run down the man’s spine.

 _“What is it that has touched this place?”_ The red eyes narrowed, matching the dark undertones the voice carried.

Vash shuddered, making his normally stiff hair wave around like the top of a palm tree. “That dream….”

Maria looked over at Vash with a concerned expression, then turned her attention to the two creatures. “Vash found these guys two days ago.” She motioned to Stan and Ford. “I gave them my last Lunar Wing, but all of us were hit by night terrors last night.” She looked over at Vash and Knives again, then looked back. “I can’t help but feel like there’s something that’s following them that may be attempting to get our attention for some reason.”

Ford stiffened, his eyes widening.

Stan frowned. “What are you getting at, kid?”

Maria looked over at the two of them. She opened her mouth to say something, then hesitated and shook her head a little. “I think you can guess well enough without me needing to say his name. I didn’t see him, but I sure as the Pit sensed his presence right at the end.”

“Wh-who?” Vash asked, even as Ford moved a little closer to Stan and shot glances over at where their weapons were sitting in the room.

“Some call him a dream demon. I think he’s just some eldritch horror wannabe who doesn’t know what he’s getting into.” Maria huffed. “And he’s not someone we can take lightly, either, even when he’s only confined to the dreamscape. Cress, would you be willing to—“

 _“You only needed to ask.”_ Cress’ body rippled, and five yellow-green feathers dropped to the floor. _“If you wouldn’t mind, Maria – what did you see? What is it that caused you to summon both myself and Dusk?”_

“I want to see if Dusk can track something back to where it came from,” Maria replied. “Some dreams can only come from within your own mind—“

“July,” Vash whispered, shuddering.

Maria nodded. “But there are other dreams that come from other places. Dusk, please – I want you to see if you can find where this one came from.”

Dusk considered that, tilting his head slightly. He nodded, then held out his claws. _“Show me.”_

Maria didn’t so much as hesitate. She grabbed Dusk’s claws and closed her eyes as her brow furrowed in concentration.

“Track where a dream came from?” Stan snorted. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“World Jumpers have visions,” Knives spoke up. His expression was cooler, more guarded than Vash’s. “Sometimes, when a world requires her help, she gets them, then disappears anywhere between a couple days to a few weeks in order to settle whatever problem is taking place.” His gaze flicked over to Maria. “Whatever it is that she saw, she saw something that startled her in the same way that Brother and I were.”

“Think it’s gonna postpone getting them home?” Vash asked worriedly.

Dusk let go of Maria’s hands as she stepped back with a gasp suddenly, eyes flying open. She rubbed her head with one hand as she looked at Dusk with a concerned expression. “Well?”

Dusk shrugged. _“Wherever it came from, it’s blocked off from their side. I cannot see where it came from.”_

“Which means that something about his aura creates a barrier….” Maria frowned, then shook her head. “I know what’s going on with that already. Do you think there is anything hiding nearby outside of our minds that could cause problems?”

 _“I will go see.”_ Dusk dropped down into his own shadow, disappearing from sight.

Maria nodded, then looked over at Stan and Ford with a guarded, calculating sort of expression.

The kind of look that _definitely_ shouldn’t be on a young woman’s face. Maybe an army general’s instead.

“I’m still taking you home,” Maria said after a moment. “But right after that, I need to go look for something that might be in connection with your home dimension; I’m not sure yet.”

Stan blinked. “Well, you wanna tell us what it is?”

Maria considered the question. “It’s…best that you don’t worry about it. For now. That demon is involved in something, I think. Maybe pulling something at Dark Arms level of cruelty – maybe worse.”

Vash sucked in a breath sharply.

“Dark what now?” Stan raised an eyebrow.

Ford gripped Stan’s arm, expression quickly paling into a look of terror. He made a couple quick motions with his other hand – mostly around his own head – that made Stan’s eye widen sharply.

“What the hell kind of—“

“The Dark Arms aren’t a problem anymore.” Maria’s expression hardened. “I’m not so much worried about them as I am about what else could be going on, especially since I blocked them off from being able to pull what they did before.”

Dusk reappeared from Cress’ shadow. _“I’ve searched the area. If any outside force did cause all three of you to have nightmares, it’s gone now. I did not sense a presence.”_

Maria sighed sharply through her nose, then nodded. “Okay.” She collected the Lunar Wings from under Cress and ran her fingers over the feathers. “Which could mean that we simply had them all at the same time and it’s more of a coincidence than someone actively meddling with our minds. Still, it’s best to take precautions.”

 _“What is it about this…’dream demon’ that has you so concerned?”_ Cress asked. She noticed Ford’s shudder and looked over at him, tilting her head slightly.

“He tears entire dimensions apart,” Maria replied grimly. “I haven’t seen his chaos in person, but I know enough of it to know that he isn’t someone to be taken lightly, no matter what you might hear him say. If you come across Bill Cipher, don’t trust a word that triangular fool says.”

Cress and Dusk both nodded in response.

Maria handed two of the Lunar Wings to Vash, who quickly handed one over to Knives. “I’d personally love to punch that guy in the eye, but I know that I’m not strong enough to be able to stand up against the power he has yet. Hopefully, if he tries to go after us, these will keep him from affecting our dreams very much.”

Vash nodded. “I’m going to the orphanage.” He slipped out of sight.

Knives rolled his eyes, gripping his feather. “I suppose this means I’ll be making breakfast this morning.” He followed after his brother.

“How powerful are these things, anyway?” Stan looked over the Lunar Wing that Maria had given them their first night.

 _“Powerful enough to negate the Pokémon of Nightmares,”_ Cress replied. _“Dusk’s ability is quite strong; you will have dreamless sleep so long as you keep even a part of me nearby.”_

 _“That is the reason she and I are partnered together as Team Dawn,”_ Dusk added. _“I cannot affect her with nightmares. She’s the only one I can’t.”_

“And the demon’s not gonna get in unless we sleep, but I think these two have defenses against that, so they don’t have to worry about him coming in.” Maria rapped against the side of her head, getting a _clunk_ in return. “I don’t know if my defenses count against him, but even then, he can’t do anything against me unless I make a deal, and that’s not gonna happen in a thousand years.”

“It had better not,” Stan muttered. “I dunno _what_ would happen if that stupid moron did manage to, and I don’t wanna know.”

“Neither do I. He’s not getting to me.” Maria looked over at the two of them before looking back at Dusk and Cress. “Thanks for coming on such short notice. You won’t mind if I call on you again at short notice in case something comes up?”

 _“We will come as quick as we can if you have any trouble again,”_ Cress promised.

“Thanks.” Maria nodded. “Warn the others, too – just in case.”

 _“Will do,”_ Dusk replied. He and Cress promptly disappeared in a flash of light.

As soon as the two of them were gone, Maria’s PokeDex disappeared into her jacket, and the stiffness in her shoulders visibly disappeared.

“What the heck just happened?” Stan asked. “How the hell’d you—“

“The PokeDex can summon any Pokémon at any time,” Maria replied. “If they are willing to pop over and aren’t too busy to give me some help. Cress and Dusk obviously weren’t busy, so they were able to help.”

“And how do you know about – about _him_ – when you haven’t run into him in the first place?”

Ford nodded in agreement with Stan’s question, then made a couple short motions with one hand.

“Yeah. And how much do you know about us, anyway? Are you some kind of fortune teller as a World Jumper or something?”

“World Jumper thing,” Maria replied. She made a “so-so” motion. “Mostly. Some dimensions see others as fictional, especially when they don’t have inter-dimensional travel. I saw you as cartoon characters when I was younger – I’m serious.” She nodded at the wide-eyed looks she was getting. “Gravity Falls was a cartoon to me when I was sixteen. When it comes to alternate timelines, though, those were theories that fans of the original cartoon came up with – dimensions they didn’t know existed, but ones they still thought were fictional. That’s why your dimension has the name that it does. I didn’t come up with it – someone else did.”

Ford shuddered as Stan’s expression soured.

“What about Cipher?” Stan asked.

“Your dimension doesn’t cover him and his defeat very much, but the initial cartoon covered him enough for us to know the dangers he brought with him.” Maria shrugged. “In the cartoon, we saw how he was defeated, but—“

“But what?”

“…you guys wouldn’t be able to pull that specific one off.” Maria’s feet shifted slightly. “Because it involves tricking Cipher into shaking Stan’s hand, and then wiping Stan’s memory, wiping Cipher out in the process.”

Ford went white, stiffening in alarm.

“You’ll find a different way to beat him – if he still needs _to_ be beaten – but you’re not going to be doing the same thing as your counterparts. Especially considering that Ford went through the portal _alone_ and still came back sane.”

“He went into that mess _alone?”_ Stan repeated in alarm. “Do you realize what you’re saying, kid?”

“I know it sounds impossible, but it happened. I _met_ a Ford who was traveling alone, and he was as gruff and untrusting of people as one might expect. My cousin and I were able to help him get home.” Maria paused, a wistful expression coming over her face. She caught herself and shook her head. “Stan had to activate the portal over on his end. That stupid thing was so unstable it was affecting the gravity in _this_ dimension as much as it did on the _other_ side. I had to stabilize it so that Ford would be able to get through without being torn into molecules.”

Ford’s eyes widened even further, and Stan spluttered.

“Unfortunately, even with my involvement, the unstable portal still produced a rift in space. Ford managed to contain it, but Bill eventually managed to get his hands on it and broke it, merging his dimension with theirs. _That_ was Weirdmageddon. Ford was captured by Bill and imprisoned then; he wasn’t rescued until the people in Gravity Falls rallied together and went to fight Bill themselves, Stan being among them. However, there was something else going on – Bill’s weirdness was stuck in Gravity Falls, and he needed to get into Ford’s head in order to get the formula that would break the Weirdness Magnetism that was keeping his chaos in place. Stan and Ford managed to switch places with each other by changing clothes, and Ford used a memory gun to eradicate Bill while he was in Stan’s mindscape.”

Ford let out an anxious whine at that.

Maria nodded. “I know. In order to wipe Bill out of existence, Stan had to go, too. That version of you didn’t want to do it, either, but Stan insisted. He did get his memory back during the last few days of that summer, however, by having people he knew showing him what it was that he had done for them. At the end of what I was able to see, his memory was completely recovered.”

Ford relaxed at that and nodded.

“Yeesh.” Stan frowned. “That’s definitely not a way that I’m going to want to go.”

“And you aren’t. The timeline is different for the both of you because you both got stuck on this side of the portal, and your appearances are different now, too.” Maria nodded to Stan, with his eye and his ponytail. “Which means that Bill is going to have to be defeated in a different way.”

Ford relaxed slightly, nodding in agreement to Maria’s words.

“So, now that that’s settled.” Maria clapped her hands together. “Vash is gonna probably be gone for a couple days to the nearby orphanage, so that leaves me and Knives to help you guys get back on your feet before I get you home. Hopefully, I’ll be able to figure out where my vision came from there.”

“What do you mean?” Stan frowned.

“It’s connected to Gravity Falls, and I intend to find out what the heck’s going on before things go out of control.” Maria picked up the books that were lying at the foot of the bed.

Ford reached out and tapped Maria’s arm before pulling back quickly; she looked over at him and blinked when he tapped the pad of paper.

Maria frowned. “Yeah, they are older than they look. How do you know?”

Ford made a slight motion with one hand that Maria didn’t recognize, then waggled it in a “so-so” motion.

“He was guessing,” Stan said flatly.

Maria blinked, then snorted in amusement. “Well, you’re right, Ford. That orphanage Vash is going to is run by the descendants of a couple good friends of ours, and going to them is the next-best thing to asking for the people we used to travel with.”

“This has got something to do with that nightmare of his, doesn’t it?”

“Night terror, more like.” Maria sighed. “Vash is a gentle soul, but he has seen things on this planet that would have made him break if he was anyone else. July…that’s a memory that comes close. It would be wise if you didn’t ask of it again.”

Ford and Stan nodded in response.

“As for Knives…his is less of a memory and more of a possibility that he feared facing when he was a child. It would be wise if you didn’t ask him about it, either.”

Ford paused at that, then picked up his journal and wrote something out. _People feared them because they were different._

Maria nodded. “Knives might come up later, if he doesn’t go to his greenhouse. He’s very scientifically minded, and has a lot of experience in arguing philosophy from the times that he’s butted heads with Vash. If you’re curious as to what Knives and Vash really are, I’m not about to say. It’s their secret to tell, and they’ve kept it hidden for over two hundred years, not counting the incidents that took place seventy years ago.”

Stan grunted in reply. “They’re not World Jumpers too, are they?”

“No, they aren’t, even though they do accompany me on my travels on occasion. They’ve been quite helpful.”

_Crash!_

A muffled curse slipped through the floorboards from below. “Of all the insufferable – Maria!”

“Looks like I’d better help Knives with breakfast.” Maria chuckled. “I’ll be back up in a bit with yours.”

**Time Break**

It turned out that Stan and Ford were already starting to cut down on the time that they were going to need to stay in bed; by noon, they were able to make it to the bathroom on the second floor and back without a shoulder to lean on, but their bodies did make it a point to protest if they tried to walk for too long without support.

“I see you’ve made use of my brother’s razor,” Knives noted as he and Maria brought in dinner to Stan and Ford.

Stan rubbed at his stubble-less chin, smirking. “Yeah. Nice of him to leave it where we could see it.”

“Vash is usually looking out for others. He most likely thought you might want a shave when you were steady enough to make use of it.” Knives set his tray in front of Stan while Maria placed hers in front of Ford. “The fact that he wears his heart on his sleeve could get him into trouble if he isn’t careful.”

“But you’ve got to admit, a lot of people are still alive because of his selflessness,” Maria pointed out as Stan started eating.

“Yes, that is true.” Knives was about to add on to his statement, but then he noticed that Ford was looking at him oddly. He raised an eyebrow. “Yes?”

Ford hesitated for a moment, then steeled himself and held up his journal. _We know you’re not human._

Knives looked over at Maria. “Yes, I am aware that you figured that out. Vash had worked himself into quite a fit yesterday by the time he made it to the greenhouse.” He looked back at Ford. “I would have thought that you would be stepping rather carefully around the subject after that.”

_Sometimes being blunt is the far better option. I am told you are a man of science._

Knives’ expression brightened as Stan looked over to see what it was that his brother had written. “Yes; at the moment, I am studying the different plants from the Sol system and the extremes in which they are able to survive. I was intrigued by the fruit-bearing trees that Maria had planted by the oasis – that’s what started it, for me.”

Ford’s eyes widened, and he started writing quickly. _Have you found that there are outliers?_

“Some, yes. The flytrap from Venus shouldn’t be able to survive without heavy amounts of water, and yet it seems to actually like the arid climate. I’ve been wondering for some time now if the one that I chose might actually be a mutant of some kind.”

Stan groaned and leaned back, dropping an arm across his eyes. “Great. Nerd talk.”

Maria bit back a laugh as Knives and Ford both looked at Stan with blank expressions.

“If you don’t want to listen, then ignore us,” Knives said matter-of-factly.

Stan grunted. “I intend to.”

Ford looked amused at his brother’s reaction. He held up the journal again. _It’s likely that there might be something that is allowing the flytrap to adapt to the new environment. Have you checked it for parasites?_

“Not particularly, but it might be likely that there is one hiding somewhere on it.” Knives gained a thoughtful expression, inclining his head. “Most likely inside the trap itself.”

“Didn’t you nearly get eaten by that thing?” Maria frowned. “I wouldn’t suggest sticking your head in there again; it could actually make off with it this time.”

“I do have some equipment that I can use to be sure about whether or not there’s a parasite in the flytrap.” Knives waved off Maria’s concerned frown. “My head won’t be anywhere near it.” He started to step away from the bed. “I think I’ll go and test that hypothesis now, actually. Thank you for your advice, Ford.”

As soon as Knives had disappeared out of sight, Stan lowered his arm from his face and looked around before quickly finishing off his soup. “I didn’t think he was going to be so nerdy.”

Ford frowned and elbowed his brother.

“What? You weren’t expecting it, either!”

“He probably suspected it, when I mentioned how Knives usually is in social situations.” Maria smirked a little. “You’re brother’s pretty good with puzzles and codes. Say the right words, and he’ll have things figured out faster than most people. Right?”

Ford blinked at Maria owlishly, then slowly nodded.

“How’d you know that?” Stan frowned.

“That cartoon I mentioned before? _Gravity Falls?”_ At the brothers’ nod, Maria continued, “I saw the inside of his journals. Those things are so full of hidden codes and mysteries, it could take _years_ for a normal person to figure out what they meant.”

Ford’s eyes widened, and he wrote quickly. _You saw the journals? Who had them?_

Maria hummed. “Your great-nephew found one of them. Yes, Shermie had children and grandchildren.” She grinned. “Who also happen to be twins.”

Ford’s eyes widened.

“Grandkids?” Stan leaned forward. “Shermie has _grandkids?_ ”

“It has been thirty years. In your universe, Shermie’s kids inherited the house you had up in Gravity Falls. I don’t know whether or not they know entirely what you were doing up there, Ford, but I do know that the twins start suspecting something’s up when your great-nephew finds your third journal.”

Ford winced.

“How many of those things did you have, anyway?” Stan looked over at his brother, who held up three fingers. “Okay. We know where the first one is.” He nodded to the desk, where the other journal was still sitting. “You haven’t looked at it, have you?”

“Haven’t dared to touch it.” Maria held up her hands. “I know how important it is to you two.”

“So where’s the second one?”

Maria paused at Stan’s question, and dropped her hands. “It was found by someone outside the family. I don’t know what part of the timeline we’re going to come in on when I get you to return home, but I can tell you this: don’t trust the Gleefuls, whatever they may try. _Especially_ Gideon. That kid has a real twisted soul.”

Ford and Stan exchanged looks at that; Ford probably would have moved to write something else, but then he yawned suddenly, causing him to blink in surprise.

Maria chuckled at the sight, then frowned. “I’m going to go make a few calls. I don’t know what’s coming, but I’m getting the feeling that I’m going to be gone from here for a good long time. I’m going to want to get my affairs in order so that Vash and Knives won’t get overrun by people trying to claim the land decades down the road. You guys make sure to rest up as much as you can.”

With that, Maria turned and walked out of the room, feeling the stares of the two men digging into her back.


	6. Preparations

True to Stan’s declaration, it took them only five days instead of a week to get them completely to their feet without so much as a stumble in their step. During that time, Knives and Ford were usually seen talking to each other about scientific experiments – first involving Knives’ plants, then various creatures that lived across the dimensions. They even pulled Maria in for a lecture on various Pokémon Types, filling in multiple gaps in Knives’ and Ford’s guesswork and squashing some hypotheses while confirming others.

Vash did eventually return to the house a day after he left, looking better than he had. He would have goose-stepped around Stan and Ford if the house hadn’t been so small, which led to a surprise attack by Stan when the both of them wanted a shave.

Maria never learned what exactly was said between the two of them in the bathroom, but she was glad that Vash and Stan were able to get along somewhat afterwards.

The fifth day of Stan and Ford’s stay in the house – when they both made their way down to the kitchen for breakfast – brought an unexpected shock as Maria was discussing what was going to happen to the house while she was gone.

“Wildfire’s going to be coming down from Cybertron with Hound in order to help keep an eye on the house.” Maria placed the plate of French toast on the table, nodding as Ford, Stan, Vash, and Knives helped themselves. “If anything comes up, she’ll be able to contact me across dimensions if it’s a major emergency.”

“It probably won’t be much longer before she won’t be able to make a trip like that.” Vash poured syrup over his breakfast, frowning.

Maria sighed and nodded as she started to sit down. “Yeah, I—“ She stopped short, her eyes widening for a moment before she shut one and winced. “Not now! Of all times – gah!”

“Maria!” Vash scrambled to his feet, worry appearing on his face as Maria bent over, digging her fingers into the sides of her head and her elbows into the table, causing the wood to groan in protest.

Stan frowned. “What’s going on?”

Knives raised his eyebrows. “It seems that Maria is having a vision.”

“A vision? Since when did that happen?”

Maria grunted and looked up, still rubbing her temples. “Since I’m a World Jumper. Comes with the territory. Vash, I’m fine; the headache’ll pass in a second or two.”

Vash stepped back from where he had been hovering over Maria, but the concerned expression still remained. “Well?”

Maria’s expression softened slightly, but she looked grim. “Same one as last time, but I didn’t get to try and ask anything different.”

“Anything different…? What do you mean?”

Maria shook her head at Vash’s question. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll be able to look into solving it _after_ I’ve dropped these two off.”

“I think I’ll come with you.” Knives folded his hands and rested them on the table. “It has been some time since I traveled off-world with you, and seeing what world Stan and Ford hail from would be interesting.”

“Hey! There’s no way that you’re leaving me out of this.” Vash frowned. He looked at Maria. “Maria?“

Maria looked at the two of them with a guarded expression while Ford and Stan looked between them. After a moment, she sighed, then chuckled hollowly. “Coming with me is something that I prepared for. I’ll just have to let Wildfire know that the house will definitely be empty when she gets here.” She lowered her hand from her temple. “Make sure you have everything you’ll want to bring with you. We’ll leave in an hour.”

Knives stood up abruptly and left the table without another word.

“Got it.” Vash nodded seriously, then quickly finished off his French toast and dashed out of the room in a red-and-blond blur.

“You sure it’s a good idea to bring them along?” Stan raised an eyebrow.

“Hey, considering those two, they’ll fit right in with the general weirdness of Gravity Falls.” Maria shrugged, but she seemed distracted. She rose up from her chair and collected Vash’s and Knives’ plates. “Have you figured out what they are yet, by the way?”

“If Ford did, he’s not saying anything about it.” Stan snorted. “Whenever they start with the nerd talk, I take a nap.”

Ford rolled his eyes at Stan’s statement, then shook his head.

“All right, then. Well, I’m not giving any hints.” Maria eyed her French toast for a moment, then picked it up and tore a bite out of it before quickly finishing it off in large bites that would make a normal person choke. “I’ll let you two get your stuff sorted. I’ve got a call to make.” She stepped out of the kitchen with a determined frown on her face.

Letting Wildfire know of the change in plans didn’t take too long.

_::So they’re going with you again?::_

Maria sighed, then rolled her eyes as the voice on the other end of the line let out a roar of laughter as she paced in the living room. “You expected it.”

_::What isn’t there to expect? There’s a whole new world, and those two are going to need all the help they can get! Vash isn’t about to let his aunt go gallivanting off on her own when he thinks that he can lend a hand, you know that::_

“Of course I know that! I remember what happened when I first World Jumped with the two of them.” Maria scowled a bit, then sighed again. “Wildfire, I had a vision of something that’s connected to the place we’re going to.”

_::Really? Things must be really bad over there, then, if that’s the case. Be careful, kiddo – I don’t want you coming back here in pieces::_

“I can take care of myself, Wildfire. You know that.”

_::You haven’t faced off against that dorito before, kid. Considering all the stuff that people say he can do – and what we saw he can do – you’re going to be in for one scrap-laden ride. Step lightly::_

“Right. I will.”

_::And kid? If these guys are as traumatized or worse than the stories say, don’t be afraid to hold back::_

Maria hummed in reply. “They’re pretty good at figuring things out; I think they’ll be figuring me out even before I say anything to them. News of the Fire Storm has been spreading across dimensions, apparently.”

_::Really? Well, then, I guess I don’t really have much else that I can say to you except for good luck and watch out for triangles. We’ll be touching down in an hour or so. Are you going to be gone by then?::_

“Probably. You know how to get in.”

_::Right. I’ll see you when you get back::_

There was an echoing click in Maria’s mind as Wildfire severed the connection, and she let her hand drop from her ear.

“How does that work, anyway?”

“Hmm?” Maria looked over as Stan and Ford came into the living room.

“Your communication thing.” Stan folded his arms across his chest, raising an eyebrow. “Is it because you’re a robot like the rumors say, or—“

“I do have a communications system in my head because I’m mechanical, yes.” Maria nodded. “And technically, the term for me is _Reploid,_ not robot. ‘Robot’ suggests a mindless drone that has no human heart. ‘Reploid’ is an artificially created being that can think, feel, and act like a human does – which, considering that I used to be human, works out just fine for me.”

“Seriously? I thought the formerly human thing was just someone trying to spin a story even wilder than you getting turned into some kind of fire-breathing fox monster.”

“Vulpix,” Maria corrected. “And both of those are true, actually. The Vulpix incident happened when I was sixteen, though. My becoming a Reploid happened a year or so later.”

Stan frowned. “You were seventeen? Yeesh, kid, just what were you doing?”

“I got attacked and nearly died on a world that wasn’t my own.” Maria shrugged. “The only way to keep me alive was for me to be turned into…well, this.” She motioned to herself as her clothes turned into armor for a moment before switching back. “It’s part of the reason that I’ve managed to live for so long. Yes, I did end up outliving my family as a result, but that’s just something that I’ve had to deal with.”

Ford’s eyebrows shot up at that.

“Man, kid, that’s rough.” Stan shook his head. “I can’t imagine having to deal with that.”

Maria was about to respond to that when something else caught her attention.

Green text scrolled across her vision as a soft beeping went off in her head. _Incoming call from_ ** _Ford Pines._**

Maria’s eyebrows shot up. “Give me a sec, guys – I’ve got an incoming call.” Her hand shot up to her ear. “Yo! You’ve reached Maria Carlsdale!”

There came a sigh of relief from the other end. _::Thank goodness – I was worried that I wasn’t going to be able to get through to you!::_

Maria stiffened a little when she heard the confident, relieved voice of a man who had yet to speak in her presence and at the same time hadn’t spoken to her in centuries, but she kept the impending reaction down. “I’m built to be able to pick up inter-dimensional communications, Ford; it’s kinda something that I need in order to be able to do my job.”

Stan looked over at the Ford standing next to him, but his brother looked just as confused.

“Anyway, what seems to be the trouble? I haven’t heard from you since we got you back to your home dimension – did something come up or—“

_::Yes, something has come up, but not in regards to that cartoon you referenced in my presence – at least, I believe not. You said that it only encompassed the first summer that Dipper and Mabel were here, correct?::_

“Yeah, that’s right; the show was left open-ended so that fans could speculate on your futures, but the series was ended with the two of them going back to Piedmont.” Maria frowned. “And something’s come up after that particular summer, hasn’t it?”

_::Yes, unfortunately. The Mystery Shack has managed to duplicate both itself and my family with some variances. The townsfolk of Gravity Falls seem to be suffering from multiple sets of memories, as well, but they seem to be adapting well to the change enough that we won’t have to break out Fiddleford’s plans for his memory guns::_

“Variances?” Maria repeated, frowning. “That’s strange…I haven’t gotten any visions about this happening.”

_::Vision? You didn’t know this was going on?::_

“Only just learned about it from you.” Maria paused, considering her possible luck. “Are there a great niece and nephew who don’t have their great uncles, by any chance?”

_::Oh – oh, yes, there are! I’m in their basement now – I just prevented them from activating the portal in order to bring their great uncles here. And they are…both glaring at me presently because I said I was planning on dismantling the portal before it could cause any harm. It’s a wonder they managed to keep it hidden from me for this long::_

“I was wondering about that.” Maria looked over at Stan and Ford, who were both glaring impatiently. “Because I happen to have those great uncles in my house right now. I was planning on getting them home when the vision hit and you decided to call in.”

Those glares turned into expressions of surprise.

_::What? Truly?::_

“Yeah. I was just planning on dropping them off and then investigating something else that came up, but if there are multiple versions of you in the same place, then that sounds like something I should get involved in. It could be that a certain someone is up to no good, and I’m not about to let him do whatever he wants.”

_::…Maria, if it is him, then you will have to be extremely careful, especially considering what it is that he is capable of::_

“I am more than aware of that. But regardless, I am getting involved by bringing your counterpart and his brother home.”

_::If you can, yes. So, you’re coming as soon as you can?::_

“We’re preparing to leave now, actually, so we’ll be popping over as soon as everyone’s ready to go.” Maria grinned at Stan and Ford. “I’m going to be bringing my nephews with me – twin boys. They’ve got connections to the research that Joshua was doing when you came over into our dimension.”

_::What? You don’t mean they’re – they’re the angels he said you had been seeing, are they?::_

Maria laughed. “With the blondest hair you ever did see. I think you’ll get along well with both of them – one’s a scientist and philosopher of sorts; maybe you could show him your lab and some of your research.”

_::Perhaps. And the other?::_

Maria stifled a snicker. “He’s a happy-go-lucky guy whose favorite food is donuts; I think that he and Mabel will get along fine.”

There came a laugh from the other side of the connection. _::I’ll take your word for it::_

“Oh, and I think we’ll probably end up coming through into your dimension in one of the basements – maybe the one you’re in now. We’ll figure it out as soon as we get there.”

_::Of course, of course; I understand. I suppose I will see you shortly, then?::_

“You should, yes. I’m going to make sure that everyone has everything they’re going to need. If we don’t run into each other as soon as we cross over into your dimension, I’ll make sure to call you to let you know where I am.”

_::Right. I’ll leave you to it::_

As the connection was severed and Maria dropped her hand from her ear, she raised an eyebrow at Stan and Ford. “Yes?”

“Who was the Ford you were talking to?” Stan frowned.

“An alternate version of Ford.” Maria nodded to Ford, who looked startled. “The same one that I met centuries ago, by the way. It sounds like a few different timelines of various alternate worlds are merging together around Gravity Falls, which worries me.” She nodded up the stairs. “Get your stuff together and meet me back down here. I’ll open the portal as soon as you’re ready.”

Ford frowned at that, and he made a motion that seemed to encompass the room.

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to do it inside a wooden house?” Stan raised an eyebrow.

Maria blinked a couple times, then realized what it was that the two were getting at. “Oh! Really, there’s nothing to worry about. I’ve done this for long enough – I should know what I’m doing by now.”

“It’s not that, it’s just – how could you open a portal in here if you don’t have the machinery for it?” Stan turned, looking around the room. “I don’t see anything that looks remotely portal-ish.”

“You really think that a World Jumper needs a portal maker in order to jump between dimensions?” Maria laughed. “I’m practically a _walking_ portal. Trust me, we and the house are going to be just fine. Now shoo – go get your stuff! I’ll still be here when you come down.”

Stan and Ford looked at each other for a moment, then quickly moved back upstairs to the guest bedroom.

As soon as they were gone, Maria sat down on the couch with a sigh.

“Of course things aren’t going to be easy,” she muttered.

And then there was that vision she’d experienced…


	7. Seeing Dimensional Doubles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's a bit exposition-y, but it's stuff I wanted to get out of the way before diving into the action.

“So, you guys are good to go?” Maria looked around at the group standing in the living room, her hands on her hips.

“Yeah, we’re ready.” Stan had covered his mechanical eye with his eye patch again, and he and Ford were once again armed to the teeth and then some.

Vash gave a thumbs-up while Knives simply rolled his eyes. “We’re ready whenever you are!”

Maria gave a nod in response. “All right, then.” She smirked. “Time to get these two home!”

The World Jumper raised a hand and snapped her fingers, and small blue-and-red-orange sparks flew from them before a flash of blue appeared behind Maria, swirling into a sky-blue whirlpool that remained a perfect, flat circle.

Ford’s and Stan’s eyes widened sharply.

Maria chuckled. “Told you I’m a walking portal generator.” She motioned for them to step through. “Come on – I don’t like keeping these things open for long, and we could end up having people poke their heads through if they don’t know what they’re dealing with.”

Vash grinned sheepishly at that, then quickly stepped through the portal, his pack over one shoulder. Knives followed after him a moment later.

“And this thing’s stable?” Stan looked the circular, blue door between dimensions up and down with a frown. “You’re absolutely sure about that?”

“Yup! I’ve stabilized unstable portals before, and making stable ones is no biggie for me, since I’ve been doing this for the last thousand years or so.” Maria motioned for them to come through again. “Well? Come on!”

Ford and Stan exchanged looks, then nodded and stepped through the portal side by side.

Maria nodded slightly, then followed after them, stepping through—

\--only to fall a few feet onto a steel plate, face-first.

The impact sent an echoing sound of metal-on-metal through the dark, damp air of the cave-like basement. Maria was already getting to her feet as the sound faded.

“Ow!” Maria rubbed her face, ignoring the dents that had formed in the metal plate as a result of her landing. “Ford! Next time you make a portal anchor point – _if_ you ever decide to, that is – put it at ground level, will you? A normal person could get a rather nasty crack to the head with a drop like that.” She waved a hand back and up to where they had come through, and the blue light that had been illuminating the area flickered before dying completely.

Someone cleared his throat as Maria dusted off her jacket and shirt. “My apologies. Clearly, I hadn’t been thinking at the time about what would happen if someone happened to come through from the other side.”

Maria huffed in response to the sarcastic tone. “Clearly.” She looked around the area, taking in all the lab equipment that was scattered around, then turned her attention to the figures standing in the room.

Maria raised an eyebrow when she saw the wide-eyed looks that she was getting from a pair of kids who stood behind the third. Then she saw the relieved expression on the face of an older man wearing glasses with a cracked lens, a red sweater, and a worn tan trench coat of some kind that had clearly seen better days.

“Whoa!” Vash looked between the man and Ford. “He looks just like you, but older!”

“That’s usually something that you expect from a counterpart, Vash.” Maria gained an amused expression as she walked over to where the man was standing. “It’s good to see you again, Ford.”

“The same to you, Maria.” The man shook her outstretched hand. “Although, it might be wise if I went by my full first name for now, considering that I do have counterparts here.” He nodded over to Stan and Ford, who were looking at him with wide, disbelieving eyes.

“Yeah, you’ve got a point there.” Maria nodded, then turned her attention to the two kids. “Hi. Name’s Maria – I’m a friend of Stanford’s.”

One of the kids – a boy with a brown baseball cap that had a star on the front – looked between Stan and Ford, and Stanford. “Uh…hi. How’d you activate the portal when you didn’t really activate it?”

“I tend to look for weak points in dimensional walls and open own natural holes through them.” Maria shrugged. “Having an anchor point down here just made things easier.”

“I can definitely see a theme here.” Knives looked up at the triangular shape that was holding the portal in place. “Some of that demon’s influence, I assume?”

Ford winced at the question while Stanford’s eyebrows came together in a concerned frown.

“You know about—“

“Maria told us about him in passing while she was preparing to come here.” Knives turned to face Stanford as he cut the man off. “My name is Knives. This is my brother, Vash.” He nodded to the broomhead, who quickly looked away from the kids standing in front of Maria.

Stanford’s eyebrows shot up, and a wide grin appeared on his face. “Ah! The boys connected with Joshua’s research! I had no idea that you had managed to be able to survive in this dimension like we could!”

Vash and Knives looked at each other in surprise before looking over at Maria, who was clearly holding back a laugh.

“He knows?” Knives asked in surprise.

“He was there when Joshua started his research.” Maria’s smile faded slightly. “Which was…oh, _wow_ , that was a long time ago.”

“How long?” Stanford turned and looked at the World Jumper curiously. “It can’t have been that long ago.”

“Actually… it’s been about 980 years, give or take a year or two.” Maria smiled sadly. “Yes, it’s been that long, Stanford.”

Stanford’s eyes widened sharply.

“980 years?” The other kid in the room – a girl with a pink sweatshirt that had a key on it – looked up at Maria with wide eyes. “You’re _old._ ”

“I practically live outside of time, now.” Maria shrugged. “I may keep track of how it passes back at home, but it does nothing to age my physical body.” She paused, then gained a knowing smirk. “Besides, Dipper, Mabel, there are just some things that happen to a World Jumper that make it impossible to really say how old we are.”

The kids’ jaws dropped.

“What is it with girls and the letter ‘M’?” Vash scratched his head, frowning. “I swear, every girl I run into – first Meryl and Millie, then Aunt Maria, and now a Mabel?”

“I’m going by Tyrone,” Dipper spoke up quickly. “There’s another guy who’s already going by Dipper, and he’s up in the house.” He pointed up at the ceiling.

“And I’m Maple!” Mabel added. “It was Soos’ idea.” She paused, then frowned. “How _do_ you know our names, anyway?”

“I watched a cartoon of Stanford’s great niece’s and nephew’s first summer here.” Maria grinned. “So I got to see them, Stanford, and Stanley beat Bill. _That_ was fun.”

Tyrone and Maple exchanged looks at this piece of information, only for Stan to get their attention by clearing his throat.

“Are these two the kids who’re missin’ their great uncles?” Stan looked at Tyrone and Maple with a raised eyebrow while Ford stood a little behind him, looking at the kids with a curious expression.

Stanford nodded. “That is correct, yes.” He blinked, and his eyebrows shot up. “Oh – oh, yes, right!”

“You mean, _you’re_ our grunkles?” Tyrone asked with a wide-eyed expression. He quickly reached into the blue vest he was wearing and pulled out a burgundy red journal with a six-fingered hand on the cover. Written on the palm of the hand was a “3.” “Wh-which one of you is the Author?”

Ford’s eyebrows shot up at the sight of the book, and he quickly pulled out the writing pad he used to communicate. _You’ve read my journals?_

Stanford, Tyrone, and Maple all blinked in surprise when they saw the pad.

“You…can’t talk?” Maple asked, frowning.

“He can, he just doesn’t like to do it very much,” Stan said gruffly. “Well, kid? Have you read them?”

Tyrone shook off his surprise, an eager grin splitting his face. “Read them? I’ve _lived_ them! I’ve got so many questions that I want to ask you!”

Maria smiled as she heard him quote his counterpart word-for-word. “Maybe we should get to a more hospitable place first? Besides, I’ve got a few questions that I want to ask about this world so that I can figure out what exactly’s going on and what I can do in order to put things back in proper balance again.”

Tyrone frowned at that.

“Are you some kind of superhero?” Maple looked up at Maria with wide eyes.

Vash laughed. “She’s more than a superhero – she’s a World Jumper! She’s saved worlds that you wouldn’t believe ever existed!”

“And is capable of doing some things that should be impossible,” Knives added.

Maria snorted. “I know some people who could break the laws of physics far more easily than I ever could. Trust me, I’m not the worst when it comes to that.”

“We shall see.”

“Come; let’s go back upstairs to the others and discuss what’s been happening in this dimension.” Stanford motioned for the group to follow him through the rest of the lab and towards an elevator at the other side. “Be warned – Tyrone’s and Maple’s father is the present owner of this house, and while he might not understand everything that we talk about, he will have a lot of questions for you when he returns from his work in town.”

“I’m ready for anything he wants to ask me.” Maria grinned a bit, then frowned at the elevator. “You wouldn’t happen to have another way up, would you? I think I’m going to be a bit too heavy for the elevator to handle.”

Stanford adjusted his glasses, frowning. “Heavy? But – oh!” His eyebrows shot up. “Yes, yes, that would be a major issue with the elevator, wouldn’t it?”

“What are you talking about?” Tyrone frowned.

“The kid’s a freakin’ robot,” Stan muttered as he stepped into the elevator.

“Reploid,” Maria corrected as Tyrone’s eyes widened. “There’s a big difference there, and I’d appreciate it if you would remember that.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Stan waved off the glare.

Ford inclined his head slightly in Stan’s direction, causing the man to splutter a bit. After a moment, he walked over to the wall a few feet away from the elevator and grabbed the metal panel that was there in a dented place and pulling it back, revealing a hidden stairwell that was coated in dust.

Maria’s expression brightened. “Sweet! I won’t break your elevator! Thanks Ford!” She gave the man a quick hug – causing him to stiffen in surprise – before moving to stand at the base of the stairs. “Anyone who can’t fit in the elevator can follow me up, then!”

Vash and Knives exchanged looks before moving over to join her while Ford quickly dashed into the elevator.

“We’ll meet you guys up top!” Stan called as the elevator started moving.

Maria laughed in agreement, then started up the metal stairs, kicking up dust. “Come on, you two! Let’s go!”

“Right behind you!” Vash followed Maria up, Knives on his heels.

At the top of the stairs was what looked like a boarded-up wall…which Maria barreled right through without breaking her stride. The boards broke with a crackling sound, and splinters were sent flying in all directions.

The elevator came up a moment later, opening up into the hallway that Maria had barged into.

Stanford stepped out first, followed closely by the kids, Stan, and Ford. The two counterparts blinked at the sight of the broken-down wall and adjusted their glasses at once.

Stan burst out laughing. “Looks like you beat us! I wish we’d gotten up here soon enough to see that entrance!”

Maria laughed while Tyrone and Maple stared at the wooden carnage, wide-eyed. “I’m not surprised you would – enhanced strength does have its perks sometimes.” She looked at the stairs that were a short distance ahead of them and nodded to them. “Up there, right?”

Stanford looked over at the stairs and nodded. “Yes, that’s right.” He started for the stairs, followed by the rest of the group.

“So, do you have any other superpowers?” Maple asked as she looked up at Maria with wide eyes.

Maria chuckled. “Well, I wouldn’t exactly call them _all_ superpowers, but what I do definitely makes me unique. They don’t call me ‘the Fire Storm’ for nothing.”

“Whoa….”

“So, you can control fire?” Tyrone looked back at Maria as they started to climb the stairs, with Stan, Ford, Vash, and Knives moving behind Maple. “How is that possible, if that you’re a Reploid?”

“Could you show us?” Maple asked.

“I’m not going to demonstrate in the house – I don’t want to nearly burn this place down because you guys wanted me to show off. As for the fact that I’m a Reploid…well, I’ve taken to breaking a lot of rules that universes might have in place for stuff like that.” Maria winked at Tyrone, who only stared at her with wide eyes.

They reached the top of the stairs and came across another wooden wall. Stanford simply lifted a hand and pushed, and what appeared to be a door slowly creaked open, revealing a living room area.

“All right.” Stanford looked back and nodded at the group, then stepped into the living room as the others followed after him.

“OH MY GOSH, LOOK AT THAT HAIR!”

“Yah!” Vash stumbled back as a girl who looked eerily similar to Maple suddenly tackled him, nearly sending him falling down the stairs. He looked down at the girl who was now wrapped tightly around his chest, wide-eyed. “Uh….”

“Your hair is so awesome! I’ve only seen hair that does that in cartoons!”

“Mabel!” A slightly taller, lankier boy stood up from a sofa. “Be careful! We don’t know who he is!”

“He’s got to be pretty cool if his hair sticks up, Dipper!” Mabel called back.

Vash blinked in confusion for a moment before Mabel’s statement registered, and he let out a laugh. “Well, my aunt thinks so.” He looked over at Maria with a pleading expression that caused her to have some difficulty holding back a snicker.

“You might want to let my nephew go, kiddo,” Maria called. “He looks like he’s about to fall down the stairs.”

“Oh!” Mabel jumped back, letting Vash move away from the stairs and recover from the hug attack while Stanford closed the door they had just come through – which happened to be a bookcase. “Sorry! It’s just – your hair! I haven’t seen anything like that defy gravity before!”

Vash rubbed the back of his head, chuckling. “Yeah, it does do that, doesn’t it?”

Knives snorted and rolled his eyes.

“So, he’s your nephew?” Dipper looked over at Maria. “How does that work?”

“Looks can be deceiving – I’m far older than I look.” Maria tapped her chest, smirking at Dipper’s wide-eyed expression. “I just happen to look weirdly young for my age, that’s all. The name’s Maria. Most dimensional travelers know me as either Flare-Up or Fire Storm, except for your grunkle, who got to meet me right before he came home.” She put her hands behind her back, looking pleased.

“Wait – I remember you! You’re the head that I saw stick through the portal before it shut off!” Dipper pointed at Maria, his eyes widening in surprise.

“Well, I had to make sure Stanford got through safely before I shut my end.” Maria shrugged, then paused. “Speaking of which…where’s your brother, Stanford? Is that fez-wearing lunatic around here somewhere?”

Dipper and Mabel stared at Maria with wide-eyed expressions while Stanford answered with an amused twinkle in his eye.

“He’s back at our house attempting to help Soos sort through the last of the multiple sets of memories he has in his head,” Stanford explained. His expression shifted. “The poor… _sonployee_ is extremely conflicted, even if it has been some time since this chaos started.”

Maria hummed at that, nodding. “All right. I guess we can fill him in a little bit about what’s going on later.” She clapped her hands together. “Now, what’s been going on, how many different counterparts for your family have you seen so far, and what other kinds of chaos have been popping up around here lately?”

“Hey!” Tyrone frowned. “You can’t ask questions until you’ve answered some of ours!” He pointed a pen at Maria accusingly.

“Right.” Dipper nodded in agreement. “What exactly are you, how did you manage to get here, and who are those two?” He motioned to Vash and Knives, who were both looking at Mabel and Maple with somewhat apprehensive gazes.

“Fair enough, I suppose, but I’ve answered a couple of those questions already.” Maria shrugged. “My name is Maria. My last name has been either Carlsdale or White, depending on the dimension, and I also answer to Flare-Up and Fire Storm. I am a human who was transferred into a robotic body and became a Reploid at the age of seventeen – hence my physical appearance. I am a World Jumper, which means that I travel to worlds that need outside help and assist in giving them some form of balance – or I push the scales enough so that the right people are supposed to win in the end. As a part of my job, I am able to make portals without needing a machine of any kind – I just use anchor points to connect them, like I used the portal that Ford happened to have made in the basement.” She looked over at Ford. “And I’m suspecting that you’re going to dismantle it so that Bill doesn’t get what he wants.”

Ford nodded in response.

“As for Vash and Knives, they are my adopted nephews.” Maria looked back at Tyrone and Dipper. “I helped settle a sibling rivalry between those twins about seventy years ago by my dimension’s calendar, and things have been pretty quiet back at home ever since.”

“Seventy years?” Dipper frowned. “There’s no way they’re that old! They don’t even look like they’re fifty!”

“Are you magical creatures?” Mabel asked, her eyes widening.

Stanford chuckled. “Yes and no, Mabel. Your kind lives outside of time, right, Knives?”

Knives nodded. “That is correct; time and age mean nothing to us after we have lived for at least two years in a single dimension.”

“So, how long did the rivalry last?” Tyrone tapped a pen to his chin.

Vash bit his lower lip and looked between Knives and Maria. “Can we…?”

“These guys are trustworthy, Vash.” Maria gave a nod. “But it’s up to you two how much you say. I won’t get involved in this.”

“Well, at least one of them already knows, and I am certain that another is coming close to figuring it out.” Knives eyed Ford for a moment before looking back at the two boys. “Vash and I are two hundred and twenty years old. Our ‘rivalry,’ if you could call it that, lasted for a little over one hundred and fifty years.”

“But you guys have made up now, right?” Mabel asked with a concerned whine in her voice. “You’re not fighting anymore, right?”

“N-no, definitely not!” Vash waved his hands, smiling brightly. “We’ve settled our grievances, so there’s no fighting in our house.”

“If there was, I’d have my work cut out for me getting those two to cooperate,” Maria remarked dryly.

“But…220 years?” Dipper frowned. “I don’t think I’ve heard of any kind of human-based magical creature that could manage to live for that long….” He trailed off, looking at Vash and Knives cautiously. “Unless they were never human in the first place.”

“As much as my brother would like to pretend, no, we are not human,” Knives confirmed. “We are inter-dimensional beings; the previous generation were only able to live in glass bulbs with certain types of chemical gasses added in for the sake of survival. The humans of our home dimension _used_ them as an energy source.”

“They didn’t know any better,” Vash said quickly when he saw the shocked looks that they were getting. “The humans didn’t know what Uncle Joshua had found; even today, they still don’t know it was him who found them in the first place.”

“Speaking of which, where is….” Stanford trailed off when he saw Maria bow her head. “Ah.”

“He would have died in a space ship crash, had Knives not kept him alive for a hundred and fifty years,” Maria explained softly. “But Joshua wasn’t able to handle the new world’s desert climate in his state and…his circuitry fused together when his core overheated.”

Knives looked away at Maria’s words as Stanford’s face fell.

“Joshua was a Reploid, too?” Dipper blinked in surprise.

“And my cousin in all but name, yes.” Maria nodded. “He was a tinkerer and inventor – I think you would have been able to get along with him pretty well, Dipper.” She paused. “Anyway, Vash and Knives were born with the ability to adapt to our dimension’s atmosphere, and they’ve been able to live among humans ever since.” She nodded to the two of them. “Vash tried to become something of a guardian to them on that desert planet we landed on – people called it No Man’s Land then, but we’ve taken to calling it Gunsmoke recently, if only because of the people on Earth.”

“So, it’s like the Wild West?” Maple’s eyes widened. “That’s so cool!”

Stan snorted. “I don’t think so. We got to that place unprepared and nearly died of heat stroke. Maria kept us in bed for a good three days just to make sure we weren’t going to collapse from it.”

“Considering how hot it gets there, that’s pretty important,” Maria said pointedly “Trust me, I know what I’m talking about – my powers get a _major_ boost while I’m on Gunsmoke because of the heat.”

Vash nodded. “Water is so valuable that it’s ludicrous to even think of swimming in it for fun. When I found out that swimming pools existed on Earth, my first thought was about how much water they were wasting!”

“And yet Earth has so much water to spare that they can afford to have some water used for pools,” Knives noted.

“You guys are _really_ missing out.” Mabel started jumping from one foot to the other. “We have to get you guys to the local pool! You’d look awesome in swim trunks – I know it!”

Vash winced. “Uh…I dunno. If I did get in a pool, I don’t think that I want to have anyone else around.”

“Pool aside, what’s going on here?” Maria spoke up. “We’ve brought back Stan and Ford – probably a few years earlier for them than they would have normally, considering they still have brown in their hair – and I see that everyone has a twin, even if they have a twin already.” She nodded to Dipper and Tyrone. “I’m wondering if this has something to do with the World Collision that I got involved in some centuries back – if only because of the Dark Arms and their meddling.”

Stanford frowned at that while Ford and Stan exchanged dark looks. “World Collision? I’m afraid that was after my time traveling between dimensions.”

“I’m not surprised. Basically, a group of morons decided they wanted to try to mold the universe to their whim and control every move the inhabitants made. They thought it would be good to have me under their control and dragged me into the whole mess.” Maria’s eyes narrowed as she gained a disapproving frown. “What they attempted forced me to activate a Continuum Shift in order to reverse the damage they caused. I can see that it didn’t get through to everything, if there are worlds merged together here.”

Stanford frowned, tapping his chin. “Yes, that could be troublesome. I did hear some rumors about a group that was up to something that wasn’t good, but I never did learn what it was that they were attempting. I suppose the World Collision is what resulted.”

“We noticed the Shift thing,” Stan spoke up. “Nearly gave us a heart attack when we went to bed and woke up in an alternate universe.”

“What universe?” Maria turned, her eyebrows shooting up.

“Well, we weren’t expecting the damn Transformers to get involved with a bunch of army guys, that’s for sure. And that Optimus guy was the first one who told us about you, kid.”

Maria slapped her hands over her mouth as her eyes widened. “You – so _that’s_ where they ended up!” She let out a sigh of relief. “I’ll have to see if I can find that dimension later and surprise Prime with what happened back at home.”

“Yeah, you do that later.” Stan grunted. “We’ve got problems now, though, from what it sounds like.”

Maria nodded. “Right. And I’m getting the feeling that Bill’s definitely involved somehow.” She paused. “Is the house Bill-proofed?”

“It is,” Stanford replied. “I made sure to take care of that with Alex’s permission as soon as possible. I just wasn’t able to reach the basement until recently.”

“Bill-proof the house?” Tyrone looked surprised. “It’s possible?”

“Oh, yes, very much possible.” Stanford frowned. “Other than the messages you seemed to have been getting about activating the portal, have you run into Bill in any other ways?”

“Gideon.” Maple’s face scrunched up into one of disgust.

“He wanted the deed to the land, and only Dad knows where that is,” Tyrone explained. “Gideon got Bill into Dad’s mind before all this happened, and we went in and kicked him out.”

“Your dad?” Maria’s eyebrows shot up. “He knows about all the craziness in Gravity Falls?”

“Kinda hard to ignore when a bunch of gnomes asked for my hand in marriage,” Maple said casually.

“Leaf blower?” Mabel said knowingly.

“Leaf blower,” Tyrone and Maple responded at once with a nod.

“If there is anything that is causing the worlds to merge here, then it’s most likely located somewhere near here,” Knives spoke up. “From what I understand, this place is inherently known for its weirdness, correct?”

Stanford and Ford both nodded.

“Which means that we’re going to have to look for something that’s weirder than it normally is.” Maria nodded. “I’m going to need some help looking around for that – I have a few ideas, but the forest is pretty large and can be dangerous if the wrong people go looking for what I need to be found.”

“What kinds of things?” Dipper asked.

“Time Barriers, mostly, but it could be anything.” Maria paused, considering. “So, it would be a good idea if I met with everyone else so that we can split up and cover more ground that way. Would we be able to do that, Stanford?”

“That won’t be a problem,” Stanford confirmed. He motioned for the rest of the group to follow him out of the house. “You were going to meet everyone else eventually.”

Maria nodded in response, then followed Stanford out.

 


	8. Dimensions Merged

The fresh Pacific Northwest air hit Maria as she stepped out of the Shack and off the front porch. She breathed in deeply and grinned.

That grin faltered a moment later when she saw what had happened to the clearing that the Shack is in.

The clearing had gotten much, much larger – and now, instead of _one_ Shack, there were _four_ , positioned at what Maria guessed may as well have been the four cardinal points of the clearing. And they all looked identical.

The people who were standing around in the clearing, however, were another matter entirely.

“Whoa!” Vash came out of the house behind Maria and Stanford, Knives right behind him. “There’s _more_ than just you and the guys we brought back?”

“Four Shacks, four families of Pines,” Maria said in surprise. “How could something like this have happened?”

“That is something we’re still trying to figure out, even after having taken the time to adjust,” Stanford replied as the others in the clearing turned their attention towards them. “Everyone, this is Maria, and her companions—“

“Nephews!” Vash corrected.

“—Vash and Knives,” Stanford continued. “They just brought Tyrone’s and Maple’s missing family home.”

“They did?” A Dipper – the third that Maria had seen today – looked at her in surprise, deer ears flicking up. He moved forward a few steps on four uncertain deer legs, looking Maria over with a curious expression. “How? The portal didn’t—“

“Her portals don’t come with the consequences that mine are apparently known for in the multiverse.” Stanford sent Maria a pointed look.

Maria snorted, recovering from her shock at the group in front of her. “I’d be worried if my portals _did,_ honestly. At any rate, I’m definitely not leaving from _this_ dimension just yet, if we have _four_ alternate timelines merged together at once like this.” She motioned to the group in front of them.

“What, you think you can do somethin’ about it?” A Stan – probably Stanley, Stanford’s brother – leaned on his 8-ball cane and raised an eyebrow at her.

“Maria’s a World Jumper; she’s supposed to be able to handle things like this,” Vash spoke up.

Knives elbowed him. “This doesn’t look like what she described of the World Collision. If they are the only ones with duplicates, then the merging of dimensions worked a little too well.”

Maria looked over the group that was standing in front of them again, noting that Soos and Wendy were mixed in with a Stanley who _looked_ normal, a Dipper and Mabel with deer and unicorn lower halves respectively (she could only tell because Mabel had a unicorn horn), a sphinx with Ford’s face (who was down on all fours), a gargoyle with a torn suit and Stan’s face, and a single Mabel who looked about 15, with a sweater that had a star with bat wings on the front.

“Knives has a point,” Maria said. “The Classic universe, Stan’s and Ford’s universe, Monster Falls and what I’m guessing is the Transcendence universe are alternate timelines that aren’t supposed to be interacting with each other this easily. Something has to have altered the universes _enough_ that they could merge together safely without time and space going completely out of control.”

“How do you know?” Dipper came around in front of Maria, followed by Tyrone, Mabel, and Maple. “Have you seen something like this before?”

“Something similar enough – my sister investigated another instance like this, and I was involved in another one myself.” Maria’s expression darkened. “But in _that_ instance, the monsters who merged dimensions together didn’t get them completely; they only forced the dimensions to share the same space, not necessarily the same duration of time, so each dimension was separated by a barrier that could mess with how old you happened to be unless you had proper protection against it. I’m lucky I _did_ have that sort of thing, _and_ that I was able to reverse what happened.”

“If you reversed what happened there, do you think you can do the same thing here?” the Mabel with the star-sweater spoke up.

Maria’s brow furrowed. “I don’t know, Mizar. This—“

Mizar squeaked in surprise. “How’d you know what I was going by? Are you psychic or--”

“Vash and Knives are the psychic ones; I just know too much for my own good.” Maria grinned a little. “People wrote fanfiction about you back at home a long time ago. If Twin Souls was ever mentioned, it only popped up as a ‘we know Alcor hates this; let’s see how he takes it in this form’ sort of way.”

Mizar’s jaw dropped at that. “What? You guys _don’t_ have the full collection?! That doesn’t seem fair!”

“To _be_ fair, I don’t plan to read the stuff if I can help it.” Maria waved off her stare. “I’m not into that sort of thing; romance novels of _that_ sort can be set on fire and dropped in the Bottomless Pit for all I care.”

“Does that mean you know who I am?” spoke up a man who looked like a gopher.

“Yes, Soos, I do.”

Soos’ jaw dropped. “Whoa.”

“You guys are psychics?” Dipper looked up at Vash and Knives skeptically.

Vash made a so-so motion. “Kinda? It’s more of a near-hivemind thing with our sisters but—“

“If need be we can contact others using mental contact,” Knives said, looking at his brother. “But not with words. We mark others by and allow them to identify us by our mental markers. We refrained from doing so with Stan and Ford because Maria asked us not to, as she didn’t know how the two of you would react.” He nodded to the two men who were standing behind them, who were staring at them with wide-eyed expressions.

“I was mostly worried about how you’d react to Knives more than Vash,” Maria explained. “When Vash spreads out, it feels like there’s a bunch of feathers in your head. Knives is…well, the best way I can describe it is having something scrape across the edge of your consciousness. Not exactly the best of feelings, but it’s one I’ve gotten used to. We can talk about that later, though – I want to have a look around town and the woods to see how well things have merged and get my bearings at the same time. If no one else has any twins wandering around…I think this might be the _other_ type of world-merging, the one that my sister got involved in investigating.”

“Other type?” Stanford raised an eyebrow.

“One that happens between alternate timelines and merges everything together _except_ for those the universe _might_ think are important to events that have taken place and will take place. I’m honestly surprised that Wendy and Soos didn’t split into more than one person.”

The red-headed teen shrugged. “Eh. At least I’ll get quadruple the pay this way working at _four_ Mystery Shacks instead of one.” Wendy grinned.

“Don’t think you’re getting that pay _that_ easy just because there’s one of you,” Stanley threatened, wagging a finger at Wendy. “And in case you haven’t noticed, there’s _three_ Mystery Shacks, not _four._ Unless Alex decided to sneak one into _his_ house.” He looked over at Tyrone and Maple.

The twins shook their heads.

“Dad hasn’t done anything like that,” Tyrone said. “I think he’s thinking about _something,_ though. Maybe to do with history or something.”

“We’ve already got a library started!” Mizar raised a hand. “Grunkle Journal’s watching it now.”

“ _Journal?”_ Maria repeated. “Are you calling him that because he got turned _into_ a book? Don’t tell me your grunkles are pulling a Beauty and the Beast AU while your brother’s doing _his_ thing!”

“Nope! Although, that _would_ be pretty interesting.” Mizar laughed. “My grunkles are demons too! Grunkle Journal’s just _possessing_ a journal. Grunkle Andrew looks a lot like a beast, though.”

“Wait. Possessing and…” Maria paused, frowned, then did some momentary writing in the air with a finger, lost in thought. Her eyes widened after a moment. “Ho-ly scrap, Demon Stans _and_ Transcendence AU in the _same timeline?_ Primus.”

Mizar started giggling again.

“You mean, they aren’t together normally?” Sphinx Ford’s ears flicked up.

“Uh…not usually.” Maria blinked a couple times, then shook her head. “Well, I guess there’s a universe for that, too.” She gained a more determined expression. “I’ll think about the implications of that later. There must be something going on if four universes have gotten stuck together like this. And I can think of _two_ organizations or people off the top of my head who would be willing to do such a thing. I’m sure you can already guess at one of them.”

The grim tone in Maria’s voice was met with uneasy expressions in return.

“He…he can’t come back though,” Dipper protested. “We beat him, right?”

“You’d better not be telling me that my bro-bro did what he did for nothing!” Mizar exclaimed. “There’s no way he could have come back from that!”

“I distinctly remember punching that sucker to dust in my own head,” Stanley said, clenching a fist. “No way could he come back from that.”

Maria’s mouth pressed flat at Stanley’s comment. “Regardless, we have trouble. As far as I know, dimensions aren’t supposed to do this.” She looked back at the two blond men who’d come in with her. “Vash, think you could check on the town and see if anyone’s noticed anything stranger than usual? You might have to brush past a few minds in case they decide to keep a tight lip on things.”

“Can I go with you?” Mabel looked up at Vash hopefully. “I mean, you’re a cute stranger and all, and I don’t know if anyone would let you help.”

“I don’t see why not,” Vash replied cheerily. “I’d appreciate the help, especially if it gets people to open up.”

“I’m going to help our grunkles fit in better,” Maple announced. She looked at Stan and Ford. “What you’re wearing is cool and all, but you need clothes from around here.”

Stan and Ford exchanged somewhat apprehensive looks, glancing at the black gear they were still wearing from the portal.

“Just…don’t go overboard, sis,” Tyrone said carefully. Dipper nodded in agreement.

“Of course I won’t, Dip-dop!” Maple gave her brother a bright grin. “I’m gonna go make some sweaters!”

“So, which way to—“

“It’s this way!” Mabel motioned for Vash to follow her out of the clearing and towards the road. Maple took his hand, and the three of them quickly walked out of the clearing and down a dirt road.

“I doubt that I will be setting foot anywhere near that place,” Knives commented, frowning.

“We can look into what could have theoretically caused our dimensions to merge, then,” Stanford spoke up. “I have a personal lab in my home where we can discuss things in private.”

An interested gleam appeared in Knives’ eye. “I would appreciate that, yes.”

“I think Grunkle Journal might pop over to talk to you guys, too, if he gets interested enough,” Mizar spoke up.

“I’ll…keep that in mind,” Stanford replied carefully. His gaze flicked over to the Shack across from Stan’s and Ford’s, and then he motioned for Knives to follow him over to the house on the right.

“Think we can come, too?” Dipper spoke up. “I-I mean, you haven’t talked about your travels to other dimensions a lot and I want to learn as much as I can.”

“Same here!” Tyrone added. He paused, then looked over at Stan and Ford. “But…you guys need help settling in, right?”

“I think we can handle ourselves for a few hours,” Stan replied. Ford hesitated, an almost longing expression on his face before he nodded quickly in agreement with Stan. “Maybe we’ll pop over later. Where can we drop our junk?”

“There’s a spare bedroom on the second floor. Come on, I’ll show you.” Tyrone moved back into the house, Stan and Ford following after him.

Maria watched them go, then turned and looked at the rest of the group – now whittled down to Wendy, Soos, Stanley, the Monster Falls Pines, and Mizar.

“So, if you can make portals that don’t bring the triangle guy with…what does that make you?” Soos asked, frowning.

“A World Jumper,” Maria replied, causing the sphinx’s eyes to widen sharply. “Figuring out the problem with dimensions and doing what I can to fix them is right up my alley. So, who wants to help me search the woods in order to see if there’s anything off out in there?”

“Not me,” the gargoyle Stan grumbled. “If there’s something wrong, no way am I going out there after the _last_ time I stumbled in blindly. I came out lookin’ like _this.”_ He motioned to his appearance, then pointed at Maria. “And _you’re_ a kid. Wouldn’t be a good idea to let you wander around, either.”

Maria frowned, folding her arms across her chest as she raised an eyebrow. “I’m—“

“World Jumpers aren’t the age they appear to be, oftentimes,” Sphinx spoke up. “Maria could very well be far older than the two of us combined.”

“Really?!” Mabel-unicorn danced about on her hooves, unicorn horn on her head flashing brightly. “How old is that?”

“ _Old,”_ Maria replied dryly. “But I will need a guide; I don’t know these woods, especially if there’s a chance things could end up going sour.”

“Not me,” the gargoyle said flatly. Maria wondered if he was going by Gargrunkle or not. “And not you kids, either; if there’s anything dangerous out there, I don’t want you getting into that.”

“But Gargrunkle—“

“No buts, pumpkin.”

Mabelcorn deflated at Gargrunkle’s response.

“I could go!” Mizar volunteered. “Alcor’s with me.”

Gargrunkle grunted.

“Hey, uh—“

“Not you or Soos, either.” Gargrunkle shot Wendy and Soos a glare. “We need you to run the Shack, remember?”

“I’m going too,” Sphinx and Stanley spoke up at once. The two of them exchanged looks.

“Someone’s gonna need to keep his head out of some fairy nest or something,” Stanley defended himself. Sphinx rolled his eyes at Stanley’s response as Maria snorted.

“Fine by me,” Maria said, smirking. “You two can make sure we don’t wander into something while we search.” The smirk dropped, and she motioned towards the trees with her head. She promptly started towards them, and the other three quickly followed after him.

Mizar moved quickly to fall into stride next to Maria. “Can you _see_ my brother?”

Maria looked over at the question, blinking, then glanced up at the air above Mizar’s head. “Not presently. It’s probably because of the bond the two of you share as twins that lets you see him. I may be able to travel between dimensions, but I can’t see into the mindscape he lives in.”

“Huh.” Mizar blinked, thoughtful.

“What kinda person can travel with portals that don’t cause an apocalypse every time they open up, anyway?” Stanley muttered. “Kid, that fiasco with the thing in the basement—“

“Could have been worse if my abilities hadn’t worked to stabilize the portal, remember?” Maria pointed out.

“Stabilize it?” Sphinx repeated. “You…you two know each other? How?”

“Stanford ended up in my dimension before the World Collision,” Maria explained. “I was able to contact his home dimension – and Stanley’s – but Bill did something to the dimensional walls to keep me from getting him home my way, meaning we needed that Rift Maker you guys build in the basement.”

Sphinx’s ears flicked back at that comment. “He was able to see your involvement? How?”

“Considering that he’s a cartoon in my dimension and people make merchandise for him just as they do for everyone else?” Maria shrugged. “He probably picked up enough hints that he knew what to keep out.” She shook his head. “I wish I could have made things easier for you guys, but some things just had to happen.”

“Eh. At least I was able to punch that stupid moron in the face.” Stanley grinned. “Totally worth the momentary memory loss.”

Maria grinned widely in agreement and was about to say something else, but she was cut off as a spear of pain shot through her chest. Her eyes widened sharply as she stumbled, and a hand went to her chest as her clothes _flickered,_ momentarily shifting to armor and back.

“Scrap,” Maria said, faintly.

“What is it?” Sphinx’s ears flicked forward.

“I-I don’t – it feels like something just tore into me.” Maria swallowed. “I’ve…I haven’t felt _that_ before.” She looked down at her chest for a moment then looked over at the other three. “Mizar – does Alcor sense anything either?”

Mizar frowned, then nodded slowly. “He just said a rift opened for a moment somewhere in the woods, but closed up just as fast. It’s August, so….”

“ _Scrap.”_ Maria turned and faced the trees in front of them. The thing in her chest – her core, her power source – she could feel it throbbing from _something_ , pulling her in a certain direction.

“Come on!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here things start getting a bit grimmer. Mostly because of what just happened with the rift and what's /going/ to happen next chapter. This story's gonna cross over with another one.
> 
> One that's going to end with a chapter next week, only for another one to start up in the following chapters.
> 
> Who wants to see Maria rescue some unwilling puppets? :3


	9. Rescue

**Chapter 9 — Rescue**

 Maria wasn’t sure what she was running towards, just that her pulsing core was leading her _somewhere_. Somewhere important.

If Mizar said that Alcor had sensed a rift opening in these woods somewhere, she believed him.

“Where we goin’, kid?” Stanley demanded from somewhere behind her.

“I can sense the direction that rift opened up in,” Maria called back.

“Another World Jumper ability?” Sphinx guessed.

“That’s probably it, yeah. I haven’t had something like this happen before though—“ Maria grunted as another wave of pain hit her core. “And _this_ one brings _pain_ with it.”

The pulsing of her core grew stronger then – they were getting closer, it definitely felt like it.

“What do you think that means?” Mizar asked worriedly.

“It means that someone’s trying to break through into this dimension,” Maria replied through gritted teeth. “Who that is and what their business is, though, I have _no idea.”_

Sphinx made a low growling sound and moved up next to Maria, running on all fours at a gait that made it look like he was only going half his possible speed. “Whoever it is, they chose the wrong dimension to mess with.”

Maria snorted. “And they picked a bad time for it. With me here, they’re gonna regret even _thinking_ about it!”

The trees started to thin out a little up ahead, and while the pain in Maria’s chest was _nearly_ unbearable, it suddenly dropped as she started to slow her pace, as did the others.

Mostly because there were four figures in the clearing up ahead, kneeling in a circle of charred grass.

**Maria’s POV**

Mizar sucked in her breath quietly as we approached the clearing. I was only a little bit ahead of her, but I only noticed that there was something wrong with the group a second after she did. Alcor might have told her something.

It was a group of four people, kneeling over _something_ that had been burned into the ground underneath them as their heads remained bowed.

One was clearly a girl, with sparkling pink butterfly-like wings on her back, and some kind of fairy costume.

The second was a boy. He wore a leaf-covered shirt – tunic? –with antlers? – no, _branches_ that only _looked_ like antlers – growing out of his head.

The third…an old man. An old man in a _horrid_ looking suit that burned my eyes from all the colors it had. He looked up and locked eyes with me.

“We’ve got company,” he said grimly.

That voice only confirmed my fears, even as the fourth figure – another old man, but I didn’t focus on his features – started to move to his feet as the man in the suit did.

I remembered my vision, then. The vision that had _haunted_ me since Stan and Ford had shown up on my doorstep on Gunsmoke.

**Vision Break**

_There’s black brickwork everywhere I turned – the walls, the ceiling, everything. Some of it turned red, reflecting something from outside triangular windows._

_I tried to move in the direction of the windows, see how things looked outside._

_I didn’t get far._

_A firm hand grabbed my shoulder and turned me around sharply. Startled, I found myself staring at the gaudiest-looking suit that I’d ever seen. I followed it up and froze when I saw the face of the figure._

_“S-stan?” My eyes flicked to the yellow triangle tattoos that went around Stan’s neck, then back up at his grim face._

_Stan didn’t look the least bit surprised that I’d recognized him, but he didn’t recognize me in turn. “You need to get out of here, kid, before_ he _comes back.”_

 _I pulled herself out of Stan’s arm and pulled back a little, frowning. “This_ is _the Fearamid, then. What happened?”_

 _“Kid, he’s gonna come back_ soon _and find ya; I’d suggest hightailin’ it before he makes me drag ya over in front of ‘im and then what’ll happen?”_

_My brow furrowed. Voices started to echo in my ears – something else was trying to speak. “Did you get sucked through the portal instead of your brother and end up trapped here while he took his sweet time getting the portal running again or—“_

_“Kid, didn’t ya hear me the first time? Get. Out.” Stan’s gaze was hard, but there was a worried element to it, too._

_The voices were getting stronger, mixed in and speaking over each other so that it was hard to tell who was saying what._

**_“Trapped…..”_ **

**_“I don’t like this!”_ **

**_“…no way out…”_ **

**_“There’s gotta be a way out of this!”_ **

_My eyes widened sharply as the color drained from my face. “…how long?”_

_“Kid—“_

_“How long has it been since you got stuck here?” Maria insisted._

_Stan blinked, then started to answer when a shockwave of power rippled through the hall, throwing me out of the hallway even as I reached out to grab Stan in an effort to stay instead of thrown back abruptly._

_“NO! WAI—“_

**Vision Break**

“No…it _can’t_ be.” I stared at Stan in shock.

The voices now made a lot more sense. Mabel’s eyes were tearing up, Dipper had the most forlorn expression, and—

“What the hell?” Stan muttered, frowning. It seemed he’d recognized me too. My vision had put me there _physically_ this time.

I quickly scanned over the group again, confirming that the girl with wings was Mabel, the boy with the branches was Dipper and…

I hadn’t seen Ford fully yet. But now I did.

“No…no way…” I shook my head slowly.

Ford…he’d been changed, just like the rest. He didn’t wear anything colorful – black trench coat, black boots, black _sweater,_ even. The only thing that was colorful _on_ those clothes was Cipher, on the back of his coat.

I would have thought he was warm in that except for something else about him: a pair of _fox ears_ on top of his head – red-gold fur and gray-silver tips. And there were tails with the same color poking out from the bottom of his trench coat. In fact, with how fluffy his tails were, it looked like he had a gaggle of children standing behind him.

But his face…the look on his face….

He looked like he’d died inside. That he’d been dead for a _long_ time.

“Cipher’s Horsemen!” Sphinx exclaimed, startled. “I-I knew that a counterpart of myself was among them, but _this?!”_

“Girl’s mine,” Stan muttered.

I looked at him sharply as Stan started to move towards me, and Dipper’s and Mabel’s eyes started glowing with something else.

And I made a very fast, last-minute decision.

I didn’t have all the pieces here – definitely not – but I had enough.

“Oh _Pit_ no,” I snarled. “Mind spell ‘em _now!”_

“What?” Stanley repeated in confusion.

“No way would the serve Cipher willingly,” I continued, thinking as Stan continued coming at me. “Get in their heads and figure out what’s going on!”

Going with my gut, I didn’t go after Stan, even as he was still moving towards me.

I lunged for Ford instead.

Ford moved quickly in response to me, bringing up his arms in a block as they became covered in red-orange flames.

 _Now_ I knew why I went for him.

I slammed an arm into him and gritted my teeth. “Flash Fire!”

An ability of mine that I’d gained a long ago. Absorbing fire so long as it was a relatively _normal_ color in exchange for a boost of energy.

And Ford’s fire was normal.

Ford’s eyes widened ever so slightly as the flames disappeared; he hadn’t been expecting me to be able to do that.

I took advantage of that surprise and pushed forward. My hand came into contact with his forehead as I pulled something from my memory and pushed my voice into a crescendo.

_“Vindentis Ominum. Magister Mentium. Magnesium Ad Hominem. Magnum Opus. Habeus Corpus. Inceptus Nolanus Overratus. Magister Mentium Magister MENTIUM MAGISTER MENTIUM!”_

I had no idea how the spell was going to work with me not being human, but when my vision started to waver and go dark, I got a sense of satisfaction.

I could feel the grin crossing my face my vision went completely black.

It took a moment for my vision to clear up again. When I caught sight of the landscape that greeted me, however, my grin dropped abruptly.

I was standing in the middle of a wasteland, with dead sticks of trees sticking up from the red earth in random places. I could see a pair of cliffs somewhere in the distance, surrounding the triangular shape of Ford’s Rift Maker – my title for his portal machine.

And between me and it?

The Fearamid hung in the air above my head, black with glowing lines between the giant bricks. And Ford was nowhere in sight.

I looked around again. There was no one else in sight – no doors showing me where to go, no mental guides who might be able to help me in my quest.

I considered my options. “I need to go all out in order to figure out what’s going on, it looks like. If Ford’s mindscape looks like _this,_ then he has to be….”

My eyes trailed up to the black pyramid that sat in the air the way bricks didn’t, and then I closed my eyes and focused.

“Atmos, to me!”

The roar of a dragon came on the heels of my call, and I opened my eyes as a large, green snake-shaped creature flew out of the sky and away from the rift that was in the middle of it. A Rayquaza – one of those creatures called “Pokémon” that lives in other dimensions.

A dimension that I’ve been to before, in fact.

I jumped onto Atmos’ large head; he slowed down _enough_ for me to be able to get on before he shot up towards the Fearamid, snarling.

I settled in the middle of the yellow circle on Atmos’ head, then watched as we came on the Fearamid.

“All right, buddy; I know you’re a mental construct, but are you ready for this?” I grinned, patting Atmos’ head.

Atmos roared in response. He couldn’t speak like this, I guess – mental constructs mustn’t have as much sentience as their real counterparts.

I pointed at the Fearamid. “Dragon Pulse, Atmos!”

The blast of purple-blue energy that shot from Atmos’ mouth caused the Fearamid wall to buckle. We had to circle around the pyramid before we could get back at the wall again.

“Again!” I barked as we approached the dented wall.

The second blast caused the wall to buckle in further, leaving behind large cracks in the wall as we circled around again.

“And again!”

At the third blast, the wall exploded inwards, and this time Atmos kept going forward and stuck his head through the hole as he came to a stop.

“Nice one, Atmos.” I slid off his head. “Stay put; we might still need ya.”

The dragon Pokémon huffed as I turned my attention to the inside of the Fearamid…and I froze.

Across the room from me was Ford. But he didn’t look like he was in good condition _at all._

He was kneeling on the ground, looking at me with that same emotionless expression he’d had when we were awake. And extending from manacles on his wrists and ankles – as well as a _collar_ around his _neck_ – were blue chains that went up into the darkness somewhere. He looked completely limp in them, even with his arms raised above his head as a result of the chains.

It didn’t help that there was a large slash across his chest that glowed with the same color as the chains.

So _that’s_ what was going on. Cipher had _chained_ them to him.

I frowned and put my hands on my hips, looking over the chains again. “Hm.” How to get them off…. I rolled up the sleeves of my jacket and started towards Ford quickly. “Okay, let’s figure out how to get these things off.”

_“I DON’T THINK SO!”_

I stopped short as I felt a chill run down my spine at the voice. That was…no, it—

I saw the chains on Ford grow taunt, forcing his head to get pulled up and back.

It had to have been.

I followed the chains up quickly, then stiffened and took a step back as a glaring yellow triangle with a single eye, bow tie, and top hat came down from the shadows above us. In one hand were the ends of the chains that kept Ford in place.

Well then.

 _“FORDSY’S MY PUPPET, CAMPFIRE,”_ Bill Cipher said sternly. _“DO YOU REALLY THINK YOU CAN DO ANYTHING FOR HIM?”_

 _Campfire?_ Really?

But… _Puppet…._ So that’s how things were. They were just things to him – no wonder Ford looked so dead.

Now I wanted _him_ dead.

I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists as fire started gathering on my arms. I saw out of the corner of my eye that the flames had quickly gone white.

I’m not sure what I was thinking. Cipher was _right there,_ and could have very easily taken me out with a snap of his fingers.

“Well, I certainly can’t do anything while _you’re_ in here, ya moron! Atmos, now!”

Atmos roared, and I could feel the heat from the Dragon Pulse as he started prepping the attack.

Cipher burst out laughing. _“WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU CAN KICK ME OUT OF HERE?”_ He pulled on the chains again, causing Ford to stiffen up further. _“I’M THE ONE PULLING THE STRINGS HERE.”_

I finished charging up my attack.

_“FORDSY, KICK—“_

_“White Flare!”_ I roared.

At the same time, Atmos released his Dragon Pulse, and our two attacks hit Cipher at the same time.

The scream that came from the demon as he was thrown into the wall behind him wasn’t what I had been expecting, but if he could feel pain from my anger – both at him _and_ at what he had done – then I counted that a point in my favor.

That thought sent more fire into the beam of white flames I was firing.

“Get. Out. Of. Ford’s HEAD!” I roared.

 _“NEVER!”_ Cipher replied. “ _YOU CAN’T MAKE ME – YOU’RE NOT—“_

“I can do whatever I scrapping want! And right now I want you _out!”_

I released another pulse, pushing Cipher against the wall again and getting another scream. He threw up his hands to stop the energy and –

He dropped the chains, and it felt like time stopped as everything turned gray except for myself, Cipher, the chains, the wound, and Atmos.

“Keep going!” I barked at Atmos. Then I ran over to where Ford had slumped to the ground, blank expression still on his face as the chains still glowed brightly. Why wasn’t he getting up and running, shedding the chains and helping us fight back?

I reached him and grabbed his shoulder, intending to shake some sense into him.

I wasn’t expecting what happened next.

A blast of color shot out from the contact, getting rid of the gray tones that had taken over the mindscape. At the same time Ford took a gasping breath—

And _something_ pricked my fingers as the chains dissolved.

“Ow!” I moved back, shaking out my hand as Ford pulled himself up onto his hands and knees, gasping and coughing for breath like he’d just been dragged underwater.

And I felt… _something…_ tug at my core.

Cipher pushed himself out of the wall. _“HEY! YOU—“_

“If you can kick him out, do it,” I said. This was Ford’s mindscape, not mine; he’d have the final word on that.

Ford looked up at me sharply, but my focus was more on Cipher, as a portal appeared behind him and started sucking him in, kicking and screaming as he went.

_“STANFORD PIN—“_

And the portal closed shut on Cipher mid-yell.

The mindscape became…more quiet, without him there, and it gave me a moment to get my bearings.

Finally. Considering that as soon as I’d gotten in here I’d just rushed through everything.

My shoulders slumped as I sighed. “Okay. Okay.” I’d won – this fight, at least.

Ford was okay. Ford wasn’t being used by him anymore.

But what was that sting?

I looked over at Ford and away from the triangle-shaped burn on the brickwork.

He was kneeling on the ground again, looking up at me with an…almost expectant expression.

And _the wound was still there._

I got down on my knees in front of him, looking at him in concern. “Ford, what happened?”

He blinked at me, muted confusion in his eyes.

My eyes moved down to the wound in his chest.

I reached forward and touched the scar. It pulsed gently in response to the contact. “Ford, what have you lost?”

Ford lowered his gaze. “My Will.”

I did _not_ like the way Ford sounded. He was supposed to be determined and certain.

Not…

Not _quiet_ and _submissive._

And then there was his answer itself. No Will?

But then…that meant…

What had Cipher _done_ to him?

I slammed my eyes shut as my jaw tightened and I pulled my hand away from his chest. I snarled and slammed a fist into the floor. “If I see that Cipher again it’ll be too soon.” I gritted my teeth, then sighed and looked at Ford with a concerned expression as he kept watching me with confusion.

The others were going to want to know about this. I didn’t rescue him, I just…took control of him away from Cipher.

And that meant…

I got to my feet, then held my hand out to him. “Come on. I’m at least gonna get you out of this cage before waking up.”

Ford stared at my hand with a confused expression, then took it with some hesitance on his part. I helped pull him to his feet, then led him back to Atmos, still thinking things over.

If Cipher was using them – all four Pines, not just Ford – that had to mean that they _lost_ Weirdmageddon.

A terrible thought to think about. But…then…why did Cipher decide to send them _here?_ I was under the impression that he would have rather killed them or turned them to stone than do _this_ to them.

And then there was the Will problem.

If I went by what I knew of the _soul_ from the realm of Pokémon, a soul was made of three intangible things – Knowledge, which was your memories and everything you’ve learned and experienced, Emotion, which is explainable in itself, and Willpower, which was your determination, and your will to live, your will to desire, want, hope.

If Cipher was able to _remove_ that…no wonder the mindscape had gone gray.

“Come on.” I motioned for Ford to climb onto Atmos’ head, which he did without a word. I followed up after him, then patted Atmos. He pulled out of the hole in the Fearamid then, and I got another look at Ford’s mindscape.

The sky had gone from red to blue. The rift was still there, but…fainter, like it had been covered over in something.

But the red earth wasteland was still below us.

“I hate that it looks like this,” I said aloud. I shook my head, then at Ford at where he was sitting behind me. “How long…?”

Ford shrugged a little. “Since he took us.”

His voice was still _too quiet_ to be a Ford’s.

“Which was…?”

 _All six_ of Ford’s tails shifted behind him. He looked away from me. “The only indication we were allowed of the passing of time is the number of tails I have.”

I made a choked noise, tears wetting my eyes as his ears flicked in my direction.

I had already guessed that he was a kitsune, now – the fire made him seem more like a Vulpix, but they got inspiration in creation from the original Japanese yokai.

And their tails split once a century of time had passed, and if Ford had _six…_

Oh Primus. No, no, no. Oh _Ford…._

“No one should have to suffer like that,” I choked. I turned around fully, thinking about what I had gone through in the past.

The people who had tried to take control of _me_ in the past.

But Ford didn’t go through – _isn’t_ going through – what I did.

“Okay,” I said aloud. “Enough thinking about the past for me. I’m the one who’s got you now, not that stupid demonic mess.”

That was probably the only good thing about all this.

I realized I hadn’t introduced myself yet.

I stuck my hand out towards Ford; he lifted his head slightly and eyed it before looking at me.

“My name’s Maria,” I said.

Ford simply gave me a blank look. He still looked a little confused.

I considered, then added, “But…if you don’t feel comfortable calling me by my name yet….”

Oh geez, I didn’t even want to _think_ about what Cipher made them call him.

“…Guildmaster works just as well,” I finished carefully. “I-I’ve been called that too.”

Ford _bowed_ as he took my hand, leaving it limp as I shook it once.

Oh Primus. That sealed the deal.

Cipher _broke_ him. And it _hurt_ to see him like this.

Atmos landed, and I moved off his head. Ford followed after me, and I dismissed Atmos’ presence from the Mindscape.

He disappeared in a red flash like he was being returned to his Master Ball.

“Even in the mindscape, huh?” I smiled a little, then looked over at Ford, smile fading a little. “Everything’s gonna be okay, Ford.”

I wanted to reassure him more – pat him on the shoulder like others had done for me or- or something – but I pulled back before I did. I didn’t want to patronize him or do anything else.

Not when he was in the state he was.

Not when I was capable of controlling his every action.

He was my equal, not something less.

“Come on. Let’s get back to the waking world.”

I knew that falling was a thing that could wake you up quickly, so I just let gravity take control, closing my eyes and falling backwards towards the ground.

The movement was enough to jar me back into wakefulness.


	10. Puppets

**Maria** **’** **s POV**

I was the first one to wake up, with my nose stuck in the dirt and my hand still on Ford’s head.

Wait.

Did it work?

Did what happened in the mindscape carry over?

I scrambled up onto my knees and looked at Ford. “Ford?”

He opened his eyes instantly as I felt a slight tug on my core. He looked up at me with that same emotionless expression he’d had in the mindscape.

The connection between us, now. That had to be it.

Well, it’s official, now.

Ford – this one, anyway – is under my control.

The thought made me sick.

“You okay?”

I moved back a little as Ford pushed himself up from where he’d fallen, sprawled on the ground, and settled into a kneeling position. He rested his hands on his knees and looked at them. “I am fine, Guildmaster.”

He went for my title, and not my name.

Primus, I wanted to punch Cipher and hug Ford at the same time.

I heard movement behind me, and I looked around the clearing as the others started to wake up. I noticed who the others had gone after then.

Stanley and his counterpart pushed themselves up into sitting positions, rubbing their own heads like they were attempting to dispel headaches. Both of them were scowling.

Stanley took a look at Stan’s suit and winced back. “Yeah, we’re burnin’ that.” He got to his feet and offered Stan a hand. “Hope ya don’t mind.”

Stan blinked. He looked surprised, but then he shrugged as his expression went indifferent, and he took the offered hand. “If that’s what you plan ta do with it, it’s yer choice.”

I winced. It sounded like he was _trying_ to be his old self, but something else was slipping through.

I turned my head and watched as Sphinx sat back on his hind legs, wings folded against his back as Mabel looked around, staying close to him as she rubbed tears away from her eyes. Her hair and wings together looked like a galaxy glimmering in the night sky.

Mizar was near them, too, hugging Dipper with one arm around his shoulders as Dipper rubbed at his own face, getting rid of his own tears. His branch-like antlers brushed near her face, but she was pretty good at avoiding them.

Made me think for a moment of who the fandom had said she would end up marrying someday, but I quickly put that thought out of my mind.

I sighed, then rose to my feet with a slight shake of my head and held my hand out to Ford. He blinked at it before taking it and letting me pull him up to his feet.

I had other things to worry about besides the future of the _free_ members of the Pines family right now.

“Okay.” I looked around at the others. “You guys got them, too?”

“Weird way to put it,” Stanley muttered. He leaned to one side and frowned at Ford. “You get the same story from him?”

“About the fact that he’s missing his will?” I felt sick saying that, but it came out as me sounding grim. “Yeah. And you guys?”

Sphinx and Mizar nodded as Mabel and Dipper looked up at me with cautious expressions.

This is what I was afraid of.

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. “You’re all making me wish I’d physically punched that demon instead of just blasting him with a White Flare.” I dropped my hand from my face and shook my head and looked back at Ford.

At least now we would be able to get some answers altogether.

“For what reason did you guys end up in this dimension?” I asked, thinking about to what Cipher had said in the mindscape.

“He sent us, with the intent of preparing this dimension for his coming,” Ford replied, still quiet, submissive. _Not_ how a Ford should be.

But what he _said_ on top of that—

My gaze sharpened. “So he got a little greedy and decided to branch out after taking your dimension? Is that it?”

Ford nodded quickly. Maybe a little too quickly. “Yes, Guildmaster.”

I growled and looked away from him, fists clenched. “Well, _this_ day just keeps getting better and better.”

Not only had a Cipher _won_ in his dimension, but he was trying to take this one, too.

Which meant it was likely he was the one who had merged them together in the first place.

My gaze moved to the ground – to the circle that was burned into the grass – and I took in its appearance.

Cipher was in the middle, just as he had been with the Zodiac, but the four symbols on the outside had been changed. Dipper’s pine tree was covered in vines, Mabel’s shooting star had become cracked and the trail was warped, Stan’s crescent fish was covered in eyes, and Ford’s six-fingered hand had a pinwheel of six tails behind it.

He hadn’t just twisted _them,_ he twisted what they _stood for,_ too.

I gave Cipher the stink eye, then lifted a foot and slammed it down on Cipher’s eye before I scuffed the rest of the symbol out.

“He already knows that we’ve rescued you from his control,” I said, looking at the rest of them. I saw looks of agreement in Stanley’s, Mizar’s, and Sphinx’s eyes. “Although, I don’t think that’s quite the right word _yet,_ since you’re not free.”

Ford blinked at me in blank confusion. I got the impression that he didn’t quite know what the word meant. As I looked over at him, he turned his gaze away.

He was probably trained to do that – not look the one controlling him directly in the eye, speak only when spoken to….

The comparison to a pet slipped into my mind and I pushed it out as I remembered what was on his trench coat.

“Hey, Ford, you mind taking that coat off?”

Ford’s fox ears twitched – man, that was going to take a while to get used to – and he looked over at me with muted confusion.

“Your coat,” I repeated. “It’s got Cipher’s symbol on the back of it. Where we’re going, you probably shouldn’t be wearing that.”

Ford nodded a little and slipped out of the coat with far more ease than I had been expecting. I motioned for him to hand it over, and he did so.

If I couldn’t punch Cipher, the least I could do was this.

“Okay, this thing should be flammable now that you aren’t wearing it.” I dropped it over where Cipher’s symbol had been on the ground, then summoned a sphere of red-orange fire, ready to burn this thing to ash.

“Hang on, kiddo,” Stanley spoke up. “I wanna get this guy’s suit burned too, and we don’t exactly have anything for him to change into at the moment in case you haven’t noticed.”

That gave me pause. Stanley was right, and I wasn’t about to make his counterpart walk back to the Shacks naked. I nodded and crushed the fireball. “Yeah, that sounds like a better idea.” I picked up the coat and bundled it so that Cipher wasn’t visible and tucked it under one arm.

“Alcor went back,” Mizar said. “I think he’s going to warn everybody else about what just happened so that nobody points a gun in our face when we get back.”

Oh geez.

“That bad of a reputation, huh?” I sighed as Mizar nodded. “Thanks for the heads-up, Mizar.”

Mizar gave me a thumbs-up, then looked down at Dipper. “Come on, Dipdop. Let’s head back to the Shack – one of them, anyway. We can explain what’s going on on the way.”

Dipper nodded. “Okay.” His voice was as quiet as Ford’s, and nearly as emotionless.

Sphinx got down on all fours and motioned for Mabel to climb on his back. “Come along, my dear. I’d rather not exhaust you more than you probably have been already.”

Mabel scrambled up onto his back, avoiding his wings with unusual, gentle care. She sniffled as she did, and lay on Sphinx’s back with her wings up, but it didn’t look like she was going to burst into tears anytime soon.

I looked around at the group again as Sphinx adjusted his wings around his passenger, breathed deeply, and started moving out of the clearing and back to the Shack. I felt more than heard Ford fall into step behind me as Sphinx moved next to me.

“So, I don’t know the full story myself, but four different versions of Gravity Falls got merged together in this one dimension,” I started explaining. “I got here about fifteen minutes ago, helping a Stan _and_ a Ford get back to their dimension – they got sucked into the portal together.”

I looked back at Ford, but he didn’t give all that much of a visible response. Stan’s eyebrows, on the other hand, raised slightly.

“If you guys have any questions, I’m not against answering them,” I said, then added, “I’m Maria. I’m not related to the Pines and I’m not a native to Gravity Falls, either.”

Stan blinked a couple times at that, looking somewhat surprised before his expression when to gruff indifference. Dipper, on the other hand, looked at me in confusion.

I gave a wavering smile, then turned my attention back to the path we were taking. “Anyway, it’s apparently August in this dimension.”

“Is, not apparently,” Sphinx corrected. “And our dimensions have been merged together like this for the entirety of the summer.”

My eyebrows shot up. That was a detail I hadn’t known about. “If that’s the case, then I think Cipher’s missing his chance to get in and wreck havoc.”

Mabel made a small noise.

Sphinx turned his head. “What is it, my dear?”

“Mas – H-He said the wait was gonna be a y-year this time.”

Mabel’s voice wavered with held-back tears, but my ears caught the first word she _nearly_ said.

Just _nearly_ hearing the word come from Mabel’s mouth was enough to make my face look like I’d smelled curdled milk.

“I’m gonna kill him,” I muttered.

Sphinx looked at me sharply. “Maria—“

“He _enslaved_ them for _five hundred and forty years at least,_ if he didn’t decide to wait a hundred years _after_ taking them to let Ford’s tails start to split!” I motioned at Ford sharply. “Considering the state they’re in, the more I learn the more I can feel my anger going up! First Ford’s not like himself, then this – this forced connection, then the fact that Mabel nearly called Cipher _Master!_ GAH!” I tugged at my hair with one hand in frustration. “If I see _anything_ that’s yellow and has three sides ever _again_ he’s not just getting a 100 percent – he’s getting 150! _And_ every last ally I’ve made in the multiverse _on top of that!”_

The forest was unusually quiet as my last word faded into the air.

I made a couple attempts to catch my breath. “So, yeah. That’s what’s going through my head right now. I’m not mad at any of you, I’m mad at the triangle. Burning this—“ I held up the coat I was carrying under my arm “—will help me get some anger burned off. Before that, though, we have to get you guys settled in.” I paused as I moved the coat back under my arm, then added, “And nicknames too – to tell you apart from your counterparts.”

Oh geez, was I gonna have to be careful here. I didn’t know what Cipher called them and I wasn’t exactly intent on asking.

I heard one of the two Stans mutter something behind us.

“If it’ll help us narrow down things, sure,” came the response – that must’ve been Stanley.

Then his counterpart raised his voice. “ _He_ called us Fez, Shooting Star, Pine Tree, and Fordsy.”

I gagged as soon as I heard Ford’s nickname. “Scrap no. _Scrap. No._ I am _not_ calling your brother that. I _knew_ he went for the Zodiac symbols but _that_ _’_ _s_ where I’m drawing the line! Primus above and below, just…just no.”

I looked back at Ford. That muted confusion expression was just going to become permanent for him, wasn’t it?

I knew there were other nicknames I could use instead. Ones that the others hadn’t used yet and Cipher hadn’t been using recently.

“Is it okay if you go by Sixer instead?” I asked. “For now?”

Ford ducked his head. “If that’s what you wish, Guildmaster.”

I winced at his answer. I didn’t _want_ to hear that from him, I wanted to hear if he was for or against it!

But, still…I couldn’t think up any other options he might be able to go with.

And _willing,_ but that wasn’t exactly an option without _willpower_ to back it up, now was it.

I gave a little nod. “Okay. Sixer it is. That doesn’t mean your name is _permanently_ Sixer; we just need code names to tell you and your four other counterparts apart when we’re trying to get a specific person’s attention. You might still get addressed as Ford sometimes though, okay?”

Sixer nodded quietly.

“You got any ideas?” Stanley asked his counterpart.

Stan shrugged. “What do you want me ta say? We’ve been stuck for who knows how long; I can’t just start…doin’ what you can do right off the bat. I can _pretend_ I got ideas, but I can’t guarantee you’re gonna like ‘em.”

“Stan being called Fez doesn’t make any sense.”

I looked over at Sphinx.

“Stan, your symbol is _on_ the fez, not the fez itself,” Sphinx added. “And it seems you no longer own that. The crescent fish is what your symbol is usually called, but I’ve heard other suggestions.”

“So…Moon? Crescent?” Stanley looked at his counterpart.

Stan shrugged. “Whatever you feel like.”

I felt sick to my stomach at that. Stanley apparently did, too.

“Choose. One.” Stanley poked his counterpart in the chest. “Aesthetic, gut choice, I don’t _care,_ but _you_ choose your own nickname. Think it over.”

Stan looked honestly surprised at that.

“Hey, Grunkle Sphinx, would it be okay if Mabel, Dipper and I brainstormed for their nicknames?” Mizar spoke up.

“That sounds like an excellent idea,” Sphinx replied. “I think it might be a good idea if I was somewhere nearby, however – just in case something might happen.”

“Sure! Maybe you’d be able to help, too!”

Sphinx chuckled nervously. “Well, I’ll…I’ll see what I can do.”

Now that _that_ was out of the way…but we still had some other issues to take care of.

I gripped the coat under my arm tightly. We had to get these things burned – and get Ford something that looked more comfortable than all that black. No coats, either – his tails would be hating him for that.

And then…we were going to have to confront getting their willpowers back to them somehow, at some point. Cipher would of course know something about where they’d gone – maybe Alcor, too – but I didn’t want to make deals for the knowledge of the willpower’s location, much less how to bring that back to their souls to make them whole again.

And then there was the whole “un-brainwashing” thing we were going to have to do. The way Ford was walking along behind me made me think of a pet that had been beaten nearly to death but was still loyal to his owner.

The comparison wasn’t a nice one, and I knew it. But it was really the only comparison I could think of.

“We’re gonna set things right,” I murmured to myself. I didn’t look back to see if the others had heard. “We have to.”


	11. Planning

“Okay, so before we get to the Shacks, we should _probably_ tell them who is here and what they’re going by.” Maria looked over at Sphinx curiously.

He nodded. “Yes, that would be a good idea; we don’t want to shake them up more than they have already been.” He looked at Mabel with a worried expression, but she only gave him a confused one in return.

Maria nodded. “Yeah, so – Stanley’s family is completely human.” She looked back at Stanley, who nodded.

“Yeah. Me, Dipper, Mabel, and Stanford are what everybody’s been callin’ the classic universe or somethin’ like that.” Stanley frowned. “I don’t get why.”

“It’s because none of you were physically changed by events in Gravity Falls, I think. It makes the most sense to me.”

“Yeah.” Mizar nodded. “I mean, I’m the only human one in my family – my brobro Alcor and Grunkle Journal and Grunkle Andrew turned into demons. They’re still nice though.”

“People outside of your dimension are used to referring to those two ideas as the Transcendence AU and Demon Stans AU,” Maria said. “Although that’s a bit of a mouthful now that the two timelines are actually one.”

“I like Demon Trio better,” Mizar said.

“Demon Trio AU it is,” Maria confirmed with a grin.

“Our dimension had all of us transformed as a result of contact with a magical spring,” Sphinx said. “My nickname of Sphinx is a bit redundant, but my family’s nicknames might also sound a bit odd to you at first. Considering that Dipper is _Deerper,_ Mabel is _Mabelcorn_ and Stanley has been referred to affectionately as _Gargrunkle_ as soon as the nicknames started.” He looked at Maria curiously. “And what has our dimension been called?”

“Monster Falls,” Maria replied. “Since in some cases everyone in the valley was affected by what happened too.”

“Hm.” Sphinx considered that, then nodded. “An acceptable answer.”

Maria’s eyes narrowed. “…were you meaning that to be a riddle?”

Sphinx blinked sharply. “Uh – I – no? Not really?”

“…all right.” Maria nodded. “Well, that’s everybody _here,_ but there’s one other group – Stan, Ford, Tyrone, and Maple.”

Dipper shifted slightly next to Mizar.

“Yeah, I know that’s one of your favored names, kiddo – sorry, first come first serve I guess.” Maria gave a sheepish shrug in Dipper’s direction. “Anyway, their universe is part of a collective multiversal branch I’ve taken to calling ‘Portal Stans,’ mostly because both Stan and Ford fell through the portal and had to survive together. The specific title of theirs is…not one I intend to say, on account of what happened to the two of them. Their timeline isn’t exactly the safest one mentally.”

Stanley winced. “Yeah, seeing how Ford’s doin’ I don’t blame ya for that. He’s a pretty quiet guy.”

“He likely has his reasons,” Sphinx commented. “Whether or not that truth will come to light…we shall have to see.”

Maria nodded. She looked over at Sixer with a curious expression, only to frown when she saw his expression hadn’t shifted even the slightest hint of curiosity. It was clear that he was listening, but he didn’t look like he was going to add his opinion to the conversation anytime soon.

She wasn’t sure how to take that, much less how to get him to be more himself. Not yet, anyway.

The trees started to thin ahead of them, and Maria could see the clearing with its four Shacks ahead of them.

“Here we are.” Maria moved a few feet into the clearing as the others moved past her, spreading out as Stanford – who was standing halfway across the clearing – turned his head sharply to track their movement. She stopped a few feet into the clearing and sensed Sixer come to a stop behind her.

Not next to her.

It was a difference that Maria felt, and it made her want to turn around and hug Sixer, pull him over to stand next to her, but she didn’t get the chance to.

Stanford – who was the only person out in the open – walked over briskly as the others moved into the clearing, Mizar pointing out the other Shacks and explaining who lived where as they went. “Maria, you do realize that you have a counterpart of mine who is _known for taking Fords to Cipher_ right behind you?”

Maria set her jaw. “I didn’t know about _that_ bit.” It probably shouldn’t have been all that much of a surprise, considering that Cipher had sent them to this dimension with the intent of taking it over. “But you don’t have to worry about that. Sixer’s not with Cipher anymore.”

“How can you be certain?”

“I jumped into his mindscape, Stanford.” Maria motioned back to Sixer. “Cipher was controlling him using a connection between the two of them. I took that connection, and in the process found out something. Cipher _took his free will._ Everything that you’ve heard him doing or involved in, _he didn_ _’_ _t want to do but had no choice.”_

“What?” Stanford blinked in surprise. “No, that – you can’t take the _free will_ of a living creature, that would kill them!”

Maria’s expression shifted, going from serious to grim. “That explains the connection a little more, actually.” She turned to look back at Sixer, who quickly turned his gaze away from hers. “That’s why your mindscape went gray when Cipher was forced to let go of the chains. You were dying then, weren’t you?”

Sixer didn’t answer for a moment; it looked like there was a flicker of movement in his eyes for a second. He nodded a little. “Yes, Guildmaster.”

Stanford sucked in a breath sharply. Maria figured that was because of how quiet Sixer was, as well as the use of her title.

“Yeah.” Maria looked back at Stanford. “I gave him the option of using my real name, but he didn’t follow through on it. _That,_ plus he’s been stuck for 540 to 600 _years? Not_ taking into account the fact that time has probably been _warping_ around him in the remains of his dimension?”

Stanford’s mouth – which had been open – quickly shut as he looked at Maria with a pale expression. “…I see. I’d never realized – a lot of us suspected that he was serving him willingly.”

“Which explains why no one _else_ has broken Cipher’s hold on him before now.” Maria took in a shaky breath and ran a hand down her face. “I need to spend some time thinking over this because I’ve got _bad_ thoughts I need to get out of my mind. I’m planning on burning this—“ She adjusted her grip on Sixer’s coat. “—and Stan’s suit later. Or Crescent or Moon or whatever he decides to go by, whether Stanley prods him or not.”

“Stanley rescued his _own_ counterpart?” Stanford asked. “Are you sure that was a—“

“Sixer’s got fire magic, and I can absorb it. No way was I going to let the others go after him when there was a chance of them getting burned.” Maria’s voice was tinged with annoyance, but that wasn’t the only emotion there – she was concerned as well. The what-ifs of what had happened back in the clearing worried her, even if they hadn’t happened, and she was concerned for Sixer too.

“Pardon, but…fire magic?” Stanford sounded doubtful, and a bit thrown off. “How does that—“

“Sixer?”

Sixer responded to Maria’s question immediately, looking at the two of them as he raised a hand that instantly became coated in flames. Stanford took a step back in on instinct, eyebrows shooting up in surprise.

“I…I was not expecting that,” Stanford said.

Maria reached over and gripped Sixer’s hand, absorbing the flames he’d summoned and feeling the slight energy boost that came with it. As soon as she let go, his hand dropped limply to his side again. “He’s like a Vulpix; they’re Fire-Type Pokémon that look like…” She paused to consider for a moment. Stanford had _probably_ studied myths from other countries…. “…six-tailed kitsune kits. I ran around as one for a little while early in my travels. Kinda miss it, actually.”

Sixer shifted slightly at Maria’s words, looking at her with a look that seemed to combine that muted confusion and, oddly enough, recognition.

Maria looked at him cautiously. “Got something on your mind, Sixer?”

Sixer blinked at the question, his eyes gaining more of a focus on Maria. “I…have met Vulpix before, Guildmaster.”

“You have?” Maria’s eyebrows rose. She hadn’t been expecting that. “When? Before all this happened, I hope.”

Sixer nodded. “It was when I was traveling, yes.”

“How did you manage to meet one?”

“I…became one, for a while.”

Maria’s eyes widened. _Became?_ That sounded familiar.

“The portal through which I arrived on that world transformed me temporarily. Another Vulpix assisted me in returning to human form, as she was in the same situation.”

That stirred up a number of memories that Maria had at the back of her mind, nearly forgotten. It sounded _more_ than familiar now.

Too familiar.

“What?” Maria’s face paled. “No…no way. You – you were Six Paws. _You_ were – Oh, Primus, _no.”_ One hand slapped over her mouth as her shocked expression became alarmed and horrified as memories flooded in.

_"My enemy is far more dangerous than anything that you could have faced. If you can at least assist me in getting to the human side of the world, that will be more than enough."_

_She_ had been that Vulpix. _She_ had been the one to help him become human again.

Stanford frowned. “Maria?”

“Arceus damnit I could have _helped!”_ Maria flung her hand away from her face wildly as her voice broke. “I should have stuck with you not – not just let Palkia divide us! Damnit, why didn’t I _know_ before now?! I should have caught this sooner! I should have….”

She ran a hand over her face, barely holding back sobs as her eyes watered with tears. “I should have rescued you sooner. I’m sorry.”

It took a moment for Maria to regain some composure, but even then her eyes were wet and her breathing was shaky. “Arceus damnit. I wish I could do more, but I don’t know how to bring a person’s willpower back. I don’t know how much you’ve gone through and I only have the _vaguest_ idea of how to help you guys now.”

The expression of muted confusion on Sixer’s face didn’t change. To Maria, it felt like she was talking to a statue that could only move on command, and the thought felt _horrible._

Maria ran a hand through her hair and sighted. “I’m going to need to think about a plan of attack. Stanford, you think you could get Sixer a change of clothes? Maybe get him to take a shower? Wearing black for Fire-Types may work for some, but for Vulpix or Vulpix-based creatures it’s not the best of ideas.”

“And baths aren’t?”

Maria could guess where Stanford’s mind was going with that. Fire and water were elements that weren’t known to mix.

“No, they’re good things. I never had any trouble getting wet. Fast drying, too – just warm yourself up with a pulse of heat and instant steam-dry!” Maria tried to smile, but it was clearly forced. “Please, Stanford?”

Stanford gained an annoyed expression and muttered something Maria didn’t quite catch.

“Come on, Poindexter, she can’t exactly keep an eye on him when he’s in the bathroom,” Stanley called over as he and Sixer’s brother moved towards one of the Shacks.

Stanford looked irritated for a moment, then sighed. “All right. Fine.” He looked at Sixer, and his annoyed expression wavered. Then he shook his head and motioned for Sixer to follow him before he set off after Stanley.

Sixer followed after him immediately, back ramrod straight and walking like a wind-up toy soldier. It was imagery Maria didn’t want to be thinking about.

It didn’t take long for the others to disappear as well, leaving Maria standing worriedly in the clearing.

As soon as they were gone, Maria slammed the bundle of black trench coat into the ground and snarled something that sounded like metal sliding against metal. **“** **Damn you, Cipher!** **”**

“You okay, auntie?”

Maria turned sharply at Vash’s voice and noticed his concerned expression immediately as he came over. She gritted her teeth, but the anger passed just as quickly as it came. “There’s a Cipher that did something terrible to a Pines family. It’s inhumane, and terrifying, and just –“ She covered her mouth with one hand and shook her head.

“…how bad is it?”

Maria felt the brushing of feathers against her mind, and she pushed her recent memories in the direction of the sensation. The feathers pulled back seconds later as the color quickly drained from Vash’s face.

“…those demons can do that?” he asked weakly.

“It’s the first time I’ve heard of it,” Maria replied as Knives came out of the shack Stanford and Sixer had disappeared into. She dropped her hand from her face. “And Sixer just – he’s so _badly off_ that he’s not himself anymore. It terrifies me.”

Knives raised an eyebrow at Vash, and the two of them exchanged a quick conversation that left a burning look in Knives’ eyes. “What is there to be done? He seems too far gone for—“

“There’s no way he’s too far gone.” Maria’s sharp tone cut him off. “I’m not going to _let_ him be there if I can help it. I just…I just need to think of a way that I can help them recover. I’ve got some time before everyone comes out here again – I think we’ve all got the same idea of _burning_ their old clothes and figuring things out from there. I just…I need to think of some guidelines. Yeah. Something to help them know that we’re not going to use them the same way that Cipher did.”

The vision of that demon in Sixer’s mind, holding those chains in one hand, was enough to make Maria inwardly seethe. Vash took a slight step back.

“Uh, Maria? You’re starting to feel a bit like Gunsmoke,” Vash said carefully.

Maria huffed, but the temperature in the local area dropped to where it was supposed to be. “I need a few minutes to think about a few things. I just…I need to _think.”_

Vash nodded. “I’ll, uh, make sure no one comes over to disturb you accidentally.”

Maria nodded shortly in response, then sat down on the grass, crossing her legs as her eyes narrowed into sharpened focus.

She didn’t know what they had been forced to do, first and foremost. She knew _some_ things, but she didn’t know _everything._ She knew that Sixer had been forced to bring his counterparts to Cipher, and she knew they had been sent here to give Cipher a chance to take over this dimension.

Considering that, it was likely they had been… _used_ to do things they wouldn’t normally want to do. Which definitely knocked a few things onto the list of guidelines she was forming.

Being open to orders like that meant that they were going to have to watch their words, too. Maria’s face turned into a worried scowl at the thought of saying something that was meant to be harmless and having it come out as harmful.

The voice and face of a young man with indigo eyes passed through the back of her mind. _“Trust me.”_

Maria shuddered and shook her head. “Yeah, no, that’s definitely off the table. I can’t let them get… _emotionally_ manipulated on top of everything else. No. That’d make me as bad as _him.”_

Now there was a terrible idea if Maria had ever thought of one. But then something else – she had to make sure that they knew what they _could_ do on top of what they weren’t going to be told to do.

“Sixer isn’t asking questions about me,” Maria muttered. “I was expecting five by now _at least.”_

He needed to be able to voice his opinion too, sometimes, and actually use what he knew rather than let someone make the decisions for him.

A bundle of gaudy clothes was suddenly dropped on top of the coat, and Maria looked up and blinked when she saw Stanley and his rescued counterpart standing nearby. She nodded a little at the two of them. “Feeling a little better about all this?”

Stan exchanged looks with Stanley, who gave a one-shoulder shrug. The rescued Pines was wearing a loose, dark T-shirt and gray sweatpants, which looked _infinitely_ more comfortable than that gaudy suit. “I guess? Anythin’s better than you-know-who at this point.”

Maria nodded in agreement. “Yeah. I get that.”

Stan raised an eyebrow.

“Pines aren’t the only ones who have targets painted on their backs.” Maria pushed herself to her feet as Vash and Knives approached again, looking at the two Stans curiously. “I’ve had my fair share of people coming after me, too.”

Stan looked surprised at that, and then his gaze moved to Vash and Knives, who were standing behind Maria. He looked at Stanley curiously.

“They’re her nephews,” Stanley said. “’pparently.”

Stan frowned.

Maria shrugged. “We’re related to each other because of connections, not because of blood. Besides, we’re really the only family we have, considering how long I’ve lived.” She noticed Sphinx and Mizar coming out of one of the other Shacks, Sixer’s niece and nephew in tow and wearing new sets of clothes as well – Mabel had a plain pink sweater and a purple skirt, and Dipper had a deep green shirt and tan shorts. Their feet were still bare.

…they’d have to make a run into town to get shoes for them later, Maria reflected as she glanced at Stan’s bare feet for a moment. She refocused back on the faces of the others and noticed that Mizar looked understandably grim.

“You guys manage to come up with nicknames?” Maria asked.

Mizar nodded as she dropped the clothes Mabel and Dipper had been forced to wear onto the slowly growing pile. “Yeah. Mabel’s gonna be going by Star, and Dipper’s gonna be Pine. When Cipher gets here, Alcor wants to call dibs on one of the Henchmaniacs.”

“Which one?” Maria raised an eyebrow at the abrupt change in subject.

Mizar shook her head. “He’s not gonna say until later. Dunno why.”

“Hm.” Maria tilted her head slightly. “He wants to claim dibs on one but he doesn’t say who or why? Either that means it’s nothing for us to worry about or it’s terribly serious.” She considered that for a moment, then shrugged. “Well, whatever it is, I’m sure we’ll figure that out sooner or later.”

Star quietly looked down and ran her fingers over the bottom of her sweater. “Sphinx, is it okay if – if I ask something?” She sounded far too quiet for a Mabel to be, and it made Maria’s face soften. No Mabel should be that shy.

“Of course, my dear,” Sphinx replied immediately. He sat down next to her and curled his lion’s tail around her feet. “I have nothing against you asking questions.”

Star nodded, and she looked up at Maria with a nervous gaze. “Is…is Grunkle Sixer gonna be okay?”

Maria’s face fell, and she got down into a crouch in front of Star, causing her to take a half-step back. “It’s gonna take a while, but I plan to help him as much as I can to recover what you’ve all gone through – and I’d like to help you, too. I know this situation you’re in isn’t one you’d prefer. But you’re safe, for a little while at least. And I’m gonna do everything I can to make that safety more permanent, okay?”

Star’s gaze was a little wide-eyed at that. One of Sphinx’s wings unfurled and wrapped around her, causing her to look at him in confusion.

“Everything’s going to be all right,” Sphinx said. “He’s not getting his hands on you again.” There was a low growl to his voice, but it didn’t sound threatening to Maria’s ears. He sounded more protective instead.

Star hesitated, then nodded a little at Sphinx’s words, saying nothing.

Maria looked at the two of them for a moment, then pushed herself up to her full height again. “So all we’re waiting on is Sixer, then, and we can get these things burned to a crisp so you never have to wear these clothes ever again.”

“We’ll have to go clothes shopping later,” Vash commented. “Mabel showed me some interesting places around town that we could go get supplies for things. I could probably make shoes.”

“ _Make_ them?” Stanley looked surprised. “Is there anything you can’t do?”

“Well—“

Vash cut himself off as Stanford stepped out of his Shack, Sixer following close behind him. His fur and hair looked a little damp, but the kitsune was wearing pants and a red sweater that looked like they had been taken from Stanford’s wardrobe. Mabel was close behind the two, looking confused and a little worried.

Sixer paused, slowing when he noticed that Maria was looking in his direction, and she motioned for him to come over with a jerk of her head. He moved silently over to stand behind her, clasping his hands behind his back as bare feet brushed against the grass.

Maria looked back at Sixer with a concerned expression, looking the kitsune over for a moment. Then she sighed and shook her head before looking back at the others as Stanford threw the black clothes that Sixer had been forced to wear onto the others.

As soon as Sixer’s clothes collided with the others, a wave of _stench_ caused her nose to wrinkle up immediately.

“Eugh.” Maria covered her nose with one hand and closed an eye as the others reacted the same way. “Must be some kind of…time-resistant field around them or something. If something leaves their presence for long enough, time catches up in some way. Guh _,_ that smells _terrible,_ though. No objections to me burning this stuff out of existence?”

“None on my end!” Stanley barked back. “Get rid of it before we attract who _knows_ what from the woods!”

Maria wasn’t planning on waiting to see what sort of creature would be attracted by the stench of something that hadn’t been washed in six hundred years. A large red-yellow fireball flared to life in one hand immediately.

“This _might_ make the smell worse, but honestly the sooner we get rid of this the better!”

Maria then threw the fireball at the pile of clothes in the center of the clearing, which was starting to gather flies and was starting to look like it was gathering mold.

As soon as the fireball hit the clothes, Mizar yelped, “Hit the deck!”

Maria pushed Sixer and herself back to the ground quickly as the others threw themselves to the ground and the clothes started to burn an odd purplish color. The pile suddenly exploded into a purple mushroom cloud that had a twisted grin that looked like a skull.

Maria reacted on instinct. She saw a possible enemy, so she shot it. “Fire Sphere!”

The fireball that shot from her hand collided with the skull in the purple mushroom cloud, breaking the face apart before disappearing inside. And then the cloud started to get bigger.

Maria gritted her teeth. She got the feeling that her fire was going to do nothing against the cloud as it was and was preparing to shoot another fireball when the skull in the cloud suddenly looked confused.

A little spec of orange appeared in the center of the cloud mere seconds before a bright fireball consumed the cloud and left nothing in the air but ash as the fire on the ground died abruptly.

Maria stared at the pile of ash and embers for a moment, blinking a couple times in surprise. She moved her arm off Sixer’s chest and sat up in a more comfortable position. “Well. That happened.”

“What the he—eck was that?” Stanley demanded from where he was sitting. “And how’d whatever you did make it go away, anyway?”

“Instinct,” Maria replied. “I think.”

“You _think?”_

“Look, when you’ve been traveling around the multiverse long enough it gets hard to tell where instinct ends and where skill begins,” Maria replied shortly. She rubbed a thumb against one of her temples and sighed irritably. “We can argue about which one it was later – Stanford, Sphinx, Sixer, do you have _any_ idea what just happened?”

She could feel eyes staring at them from other Shacks around the clearing. The explosion had clearly gotten the attention of others.

“My best guess is that in allowing time to catch up, all the bacteria and diseases they’d had attached to their clothes banded together into some form of semi-sentient life,” Stanford commented. “It certainly could be possible.”

“In an accelerated form of time where it is more than likely that they would die without any form of a physical host to leech off?” Sphinx argued. “Doubtful. It has to be some other variable – perhaps something you are overlooking.”

“Well, if I am going to overlook it, perhaps you will as well,” Stanford shot back somewhat irritably.

“We may be counterparts, but that does not mean that we think about things the same way,” Sphinx replied calmly. His tail tip twitched in an irritated manner. “Perhaps there is something about the clothes themselves that caused this reaction?”

“Considering that the only ones of us who would know anything _about_ these things were also the ones _wearing_ them _…._ ” Stanford looked over at Sixer. “What say you?”

Sixer looked surprised by the sudden question, but also confused. But before Maria could prod him to say anything, Stan nudged Stanley and cleared his throat.

“Yeah, Crescent?” Stanley raised an eyebrow.

So, that’s what he was going by. Good to know.

“You-know-who had one of his henchies put those together,” Crescent explained, motioning to the smoking remains. “I had no idea where she got the stuff ta make ‘em, but—“

“She?” Maria’s expression shifted slightly. There was only one Henchmaniac that Maria vaguely remembered that could have been distinctly female. Memories nearly long-forgotten of a cartoon she’d watched in her youth quickly trickled back in.

“Yeah, uh…” Crescent glanced over at Stanley, who looked back at him impatiently. “Tall, one eye, horns on her head, knew so much about fire her clothes were—“

“Pyronica,” Maria identified grimly.

Sixer’s ears flicked sharply, turning to face Maria. She still wasn’t used to that.

“How do you know that name?” Stanford asked, frowning.

Maria fidgeted at the stares. “One hears things, traveling about as I do. At home, I was able to watch what you went through, remember? And that includes the round of introductions Cipher gave his Henchmaniacs when he was initially bearing down on the town.” She made an uneasy frown. “But we only got basic introductions, and nothing else. Something tells me there are things about them that I’d rather not know about.”

Sixer shifted his sitting position a little; Maria glanced over at him and noticed that his eyes weren’t focused on anyone nearby. Was he lost in a memory? Or just thought that he shouldn’t look people in the eye?

“Yeesh, sounds like you guys had a really bad time,” Vash commented.

“I applaud you for stating the obvious, brother,” Knives replied dryly, getting a wince from the other.

Maria’s train of thoughts quickly came to a conclusion. “So, she probably used some material that didn’t take well to being set _on_ fire in a way that was destructive, then.” She scratched her head, frowning, then sighed and rose to her feet. “Well, at least it isn’t going to be a problem anymore, so I can change the subject to something that I think we _really_ need to discuss.”

“What is it?” Mizar asked, frowning.

“We’re gonna need some guidelines.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone asks -- the event with Maria and Sixer meeting as Vulpix is put into my collection of Pokemon OneShots. Maria didn't put two-and-two together about that event sooner because 1) she had amnesia at the time of the meeting and 2) she hadn't been introduced to Gravity Falls yet. She didn't know that she was talking to a traveling Stanford Pines that she would later meet and rescue. This is all just one big coincidence.


	12. Guidelines

As soon as Maria mentioned guidelines, she sensed Sixer turn and look at her as the others standing nearby gained curious, but also serious expressions.

“We’re gonna have to watch what we say around them,” Maria started, looking at Mizar, Stanley, and Sphinx in turn. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but these guys are probably going to be open to taking _anything_ we say literally. So, I’m gonna start with some easy ones – we can’t tell them to kill people, even in jest.”

The gagging gasp Vash made clearly said how he felt about that.

Maria held a hand out to him in a calming gesture. “Just getting that off the table, Vash, because I’m _pretty_ _sure_ that they’ve done that.”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better about this,” Vash whined, looking pained and pale.

Maria nodded in response, then looked at the rest of the group. “And we should take into account what moral boundaries we shouldn’t be crossing – if they wouldn’t _normally_ do _anything_ under _any circumstances,_ don’t tell them to do it.” She looked over at Sixer, then frowned.

Sixer looked…well, she wasn’t sure how to describe his expression, but it looked like he was starting to become confused and surprised.

“That certainly is a danger, isn’t it?” Sphinx murmured worriedly. He looked over at Star, who was starting at Maria with wide eyes. “Star, if anything comes up and I ask you to do something you are not completely comfortable with, you _will_ let me know, all right?”

Star looked at him sharply while Sixer’s expression went wide-eyed as well. The look on his face only made Maria even more worried. Sixer wasn’t _reacting_ like a Ford to all of this. He looked more like a confused child who wasn’t used to being treated in the way he was right at this moment.

Maria didn’t like that train of thought.

Star nodded quickly as she continued to stare wide-eyed at Sphinx, and he relaxed.

“Good. I don’t want to force you to do anything you wouldn’t feel comfortable about. And if you have any questions, you can ask any of us for answers, all right?”

Star’s eyes became even wider at Sphinx’s words. “S-so, I don’t _have_ to use my powers?”

“If you would prefer not to,” Sphinx replied. “Although, I do admit, you’ve got me curious. But if you’re not comfortable using them, would you be comfortable _telling_ me about them later?”

Star considered the question, then nodded a little.

“Same goes for you, Pine.” Mizar clapped a hand on his back, grinning as he turned sharply to look up at her with an expression of unabashed shock. “You guys are gonna need time to adjust to all this, and there’s no way that I’m gonna make you do stuff with me – I’ve got _my_ brobro to do that with.”

Crescent snorted at that, and Maria saw Mabel look around with a wide-eyed look of confusion. Right; she didn’t know about what had happened yet. Very few people outside the group did.

“Yeah, uh, I don’t think that Cress here is gonna be doin’ anything with any powers he’s got,” Stanley said. He looked a bit grim. “’Pparently, he’s some kinda changeling that eats people to turn inta ‘em.”

Crescent nodded as Sphinx, Mizar, Stanford, Mabel, and Maria looked at him with surprised, startled expressions.

“Changeling…?” That brought back memories of something else Maria knew, from her time in her home dimension. “Geez, first Demon Stans and Transcendence are one AU, and now that one gets involved in this, too?” She sounded worried. “Well, yeah, no eating people is a definite thing. That probably just means he’s going to be eating a lot more meat than everyone else.”

“Sounds good to me,” Crescent offered.

Maria nodded, then looked over at Sixer, who stared back with a somewhat wide-eyed, uncertain expression. Her mouth twitched up into the start of a smirk, but it didn’t go far. “Sixer, just so you know, I’ll be running things by you, too. I don’t want to make you do things you’re not comfortable with doing, and if you’ve got any questions or opinions about events that could end up coming up, go ahead and voice them. Different perspectives on things can help us find a solution to something faster, sometimes even when it contradicts something that I might end up telling you.”

Sixer did _not_ look like he had been expecting that. “A-are you sure that’s wise, Guildmaster?” His voice gave away his nerves, but he didn’t sound like _himself._

Maria frowned. “Well, yeah. I appreciate input on all my decisions from whoever happens to be with me. And since you’re going to be with me a lot more than anyone else now because of this connection, having your opinion on decisions I could make would be pretty helpful. I mean, I still have the option to disregard opinions – I do that with everyone – but I like being able to hear what other people think.”

Sixer looked like a deer in headlights. He started to say something else, but Crescent got there first.

“I think you broke him,” Crescent called over. “Kid, look, I know you mean well, but….” He trailed off, looking like he wasn’t sure where to go from there.

“You can’t give them everythin’ an’ expect ‘im ta be okay right off the bat,” Stanley finished. “At least, ‘ccordin’ ta Crescent.” He clapped a hand on Crescent’s shoulder and added, “Take it slow, kid.”

Crescent nodded in agreement.

Maria made a quiet groan of frustration. “I just – I’m used to dealing with _tech_ mind control, not…not something like this.” She ran her hand down her face as Sixer watched her warily, looking between her, Crescent and Stanley with his nervous expression as it slowly bleed into a guarded expression. “Sorry, Sixer, you don’t _have_ to – it’s an _option._ I may still ask for your opinion on occasions, but if you feel that you need to in certain situations, you can ask or voice your opinion then, all right?”

Sixer blinked at that, then pulled back a little as Maria continued to watch him with a nervous expression. After a moment, he nodded, and Maria let her shoulders relax a little – just a little.

There was some progress here.

“Okay; good.” Maria sighed and ran a hand over her face. “Okay okay okay…so no killing, no doing things that they wouldn’t be comfortable with under normal circumstances, give them options to speak their minds…” She looked over at Sixer. “There are some sayings that might sound like they’re suggesting orders that could change how they think mentally. Either we tell them to tell the difference between a saying and an order or we just stop saying those sayings entirely.”

“Isn’t that a little extreme?” Mizar pointed out.

“I’m trying to cover all my bases, because I _know_ sayings can be taken a little too literally sometimes.” Maria looked at Sixer. “It might be easier if we just said to take anything that manipulates how they think with a grain of salt – that is, _ask_ if that was supposed to be an order or not. Like, ‘don’t worry’ or ‘don’t be afraid’ shouldn’t be taken as orders to knock those emotions out of their heads completely.”

Crescent made a noise at that; it sounded like surprise. Star and Pine exchanged looks around Mizar, but Sixer kept his gaze on Maria, saying nothing.

“If anything else ends up coming up as we go along, we’ll need to amend the guidelines, but I think that’s pretty much everything I wanted to cover for now,” Maria added. She sighed heavily. “Now we just have to make sure you guys can settle in and…and get you to be more like yourselves again.”

Crescent started to say something, but Stanley elbowed him in the side. “She’s not talkin’ about _actin_ _’_ like you’re okay, knucklehead. You can go ahead an’ do that, but she’s probably gonna know that you’re hidin’ the fact that you’re _not_ okay. Kay?”

Crescent looked confused for a second at his counterpart’s words, but then nodded slowly. “Kay.”

Stanley grinned and chuckled. “All-right-y, then.” The grin dropped. “So let’s get a few things settled – who has extra room where we can let these guy’s sleep? Because I don’t think we can let these guys just…split. Doesn’t seem like a very good idea.”

Sixer’s ear flicked as his gaze moved to Stanley. Maria watched him with a cautious expression as her thoughts wandered.

“Okay, what’s going on?” Mabel spoke up. “I’m _really_ confused. Why’s Grunkle Sixer quiet?”

Sixer’s ear flicked again as Maria winced.

“Mabel, he—“ Maria sighed and shook her head. “How do I put this…”

“Cipher…he did something to them,” Stanford said carefully. “We – that is, my counterparts and I – were aware that he had caused Sixer to…to turn to his side, but none of us were aware of the extent of that turning, much less what had happened to him as a result. Now that we know a little bit more, well….” He trailed off, considering his next words carefully.

Crescent sighed. “Simplest way to put it is we lost.”

Maria winced visibly as the looks on the others’ faces shifted to shock.

“…wait, what?” Mabel let out a nervous laugh. “Th-that can’t be right.”

Crescent shrugged. “Well, it did. The Zodiac or whatever didn’t work.”

“It didn’t work for us, either,” Stanley spoke up.

Sixer blinked, looking confused. Maria looked around the group with a worried expression.

“Wait, what?” Crescent stared at Stanley with a blank expression.

“Yeah. Ford and I pulled a swap on Cipher and tricked ‘im into makin’ a deal with me instead’a him. Then I got my memory blasted out and killed Cipher in the same move.” Stanley mimed shooting himself in the head. “Got most ‘a my memories back from that, an’ no sign of that stupid triangle.”

“Amen to that,” Maria said with a note of relief. She looked at Sixer, then frowned at the look on his face. There was some slight confusion there, but not much. It was almost like he wasn’t used to moving the muscles in his face much at all. “You…you guys didn’t do that, did you?”

Sixer registered the question with a blink, then shook his head slowly. “No, Guildmaster. As soon as the Zodiac failed, he did as he wished with us.”

Mabel let out an audible gasp. “That’s – that’s horrible!” She promptly ran forward and wrapped her arms around Sixer’s waist in a hug. He looked down at her with a slightly confused expression as her eyes quickly became rimmed with tears. A determined frown appeared on her face. “We’re gonna do everything we can to make sure you guys are okay. Cipher’s not here, he’s not gonna be able to get you guys anymore, _and_ you’ve got lots of mes who are going to be able to help!” She looked over at Mizar. "Right?”

“Right.” Mizar nodded in agreement.

“Good. I’m gonna go tell Dipper so we can figure out what we can do to help! Talk to you later!” Mabel let Sixer go – his expression still with muted confusion – and she ran back towards the shack she and Stanford had come out of, yelling, “Dipper! I need a plan!”

“I guess Mabel got done with leading Vash around town and got back here before we did?” Maria looked up at Vash.

Vash nodded. “Yeah; we got back ten minutes before you did.” He frowned worriedly. “Maria, did you know that there was a Dipper with pointed ears and wings on his—“

“Yeah, that’s Alcor – he’s Mizar’s twin brother.”  Maria waved off his concerned expression. “Absorbed Cipher’s power when he beat him in their dimension, and now he’s a dream demon. Mizar helps him keep his humanity, so I’m not worried about him being around.”

“And you know about this how?” Stanley asked.

Maria smirked a little. “Fanfiction. We don’t have Twin Stars, though, which I think is a boon.”

“And I _don_ _’_ _t,”_ Mizar said pointedly. “I’ve got a collection of it in Grunkle Journal’s library, if you ever want to read it.”

Maria raised an eyebrow. “I’ll think about it. First, we gotta find a place to let these guys sleep for a while. Do we have any guest rooms open anywhere?”

“We do.”

That was a voice that was unfamiliar. Maria turned at the sound of it and blinked when she saw the man standing nearby, having snuck up on them. He had a square chin, but it wasn’t as pronounced as Stanford’s or Stanley’s. Having what looked like the start of red facial hair on his chin probably helped. It was stark against his dark curls and equally dark eyes.

“Tyrone’s and Maple’s dad?” Maria asked.

Sixer stiffened.

The Pines man nodded. “And you’re the person who I have to thank for bringing my uncles home. Alex Pines.” He held out a hand in greeting.

Maria took it. “Maria Carlsdale. I hope Gravity Falls is treating you well.”

“Well, if by that you mean the gnomes tried to kidnap my daughter our first day up here, yes.” Alex’s gaze moved to Sixer and his family. “What the…who are—“

“They’re from a dimension where…things turned out badly,” Maria said carefully. “Really badly. And we’ve got a year to help them out and prep for the demon’s inevitable invasion. Again.”

“Again? All you people talking about demons and I’ve never seen him face to face.” Alex frowned.

Sixer turned slightly.

“You’re lucky you haven’t,” Stanley grunted.

“So my uncles tell me,” Alex replied dryly. He looked back at Maria, pausing at Sixer’s gaze. “We have an extra room, since Uncle Stan and Uncle Ford said they wanted to sleep in the same room. It’ll take us a little to get some beds moved in, but we should have the room set up in a couple days.” He looked at Sixer again, faltering slightly. “I’ll…I’ll go get started on that. But I _would_ like to talk with you later, young lady – you seem to have a good head on your shoulders, and if my uncles trust you, then you should be able to tell me what’s going on a little better.”

“I’ll see what I can do, but I don’t think I have all the pieces yet.”

Alex seemed to accept that answer, because he nodded slightly, then went back towards one of the houses. A group of figures were standing on the porch – Stan and Ford and their niblings.

Stan moved in front of his brother a little more protectively, heat in his one-eyed glare. Maria saw Sixer’s tails twitch at the look, but he didn’t do anything else.

Not even a twitch in his expression.

“…might as well introduce them to you too,” Maria murmured. She sighed. “This is gonna be fun.”

She started towards the building, glancing back at Sixer as she got halfway across the clearing. He got the message almost immediately and started after her.

Stan tried to make himself more imposing as they got closer, keeping his glare on Sixer as Ford peered out from behind him with a wide-eyed expression.

Maria motioned to Sixer to wait a short distance back from the porch as she moved up to stand in front of Stan. “You’ve heard about him too, then.”

Stan’s gaze didn’t leave Sixer. “Not hard to when we’ve had bounty hunters comes after us. What’d you do?”

“To put it bluntly, Sixer is leaching off _my_ willpower at the moment.” Maria nodded back in Sixer’s direction. “Cipher did something that removed his. Same for the rest of his family. That’s why they were following his orders and not doing anything to resist – they were incapable of it. Stanley rescued Sixer’s brother, and Mizar and Sphinx got their Dipper and Mabel. So they’re not listening to him. Not anymore.”

Ford peered out from behind Stan as Tyrone and Maple stood behind him, peering out curiously.

“But how’d they get here in the first place?” Tyrone asked. “If they’re working with—“

“That’s the other problem.” Maria winced a little. “On top of the fact that we have to figure out how to get them to recover from what’s happened, we’re on a time crunch. Cipher sent them _here_ because he got too greedy. He’s coming through next August to try to take this dimension, too.”

Ford stiffened at that, eyes widening sharply in alarm.

“Moses on a pogo stick,” Stan muttered. “I’d just thought that _the kids_ were rumors but this? This is a whole ‘nother level of bad.”

“You knew about what happened to Pine and Star?” Maria sounded surprised. “Sphinx did. How—“

“We ran into another Ford who told us about some kinda breakout. Well, told Ford, anyway. He kept giving me the stinkeye fer one reason or another.”

Maria knew why a Ford would give Stan the stinkeye, but the other part –

“Breakout?” Maria looked over at Sixer. “Stanford said you caught Ford and took them to their Ciphers. Was this them escaping?”

“Yes, Guildmaster.” Sixer nodded a little. “One of my captured counterparts broke out of his cell when the – when _he_ was looking into other dimensions to invade. He returned as soon as he sensed the event and sent us in re recapture my counterparts. We were not completely successful, as some did manage to escape.”

“And I’m glad for that,” Stan said pointedly. “It helped keep us on guard a little better."

Ford nodded in agreement, but his gaze didn’t move from Sixer, who was focusing more on Ford’s feet than his face.

“So, what now?” Maple asked. “If – if something’s coming next year—“

“We prepare for it,” Maria and Stan said in unison.

Stan nodded. “Get all our defenses shored up – and warn as many people as we can, too. Maybe take that global.”

“Actually, we might not have to.” Maria held up a hand, and Stan frowned. “There’s a natural barrier around town that will keep Cipher in place; it’ll stall him for a little while, at least.” Then something else occurred to her, and she looked over at Sixer. “I assume one of the first things he did was have you hand over the equation for that, though.”

“Yes, Guildmaster.” Sixer nodded.

“I-I doubt th-that equation i-is the exa-act same as what’s required here.”

Sixer’s ears twitched in response to Ford’s stuttered words.

“Th-there’s four d-dimensions mer-merged together,” Ford added. “Th-that changes var-variables.”

“…Which would at least slow them down,” Maria said after a moment. “Since he has the equation for Sixer’s dimension, he’s gonna need some time to figure out which variables have changed as a result of the dimensions merging together. But in the meantime, we’ve got other things to think about.”

Maria looked at Sixer, who quickly moved his gaze so that he wasn’t looking her directly in the eye. It weighed on her heart.

“Let’s get these guys settled in and started on the road to recovery,” Maria said with conviction. I’d rather not leave Sixer in this state for longer than he already has been.”

Sixer grunted in pain suddenly and dropped to his knees, arms wrapped around his stomach as his sharp teeth gritted in pain.


	13. Full Stomachs

“Sixer!” Maria was next to Sixer instantly. “What’s going on?”

Sixer shook his head. “I don’t—“

Star and Pine suddenly let out similar cries of pain.

“Get something in their stomachs _now!”_ Crescent yelled. “I’m the only one who’s been eating things!”

Maria didn’t like the implications of that, but she knew what to do. Reaching under her jacket, she grabbed something from a space between spaces – a large, yellow fruit the size of a pear with orange spots.

A Sitrus Berry. Would Sixer recognize this one? Maybe.

She held it out to Sixer. “Take a bite of this. Make sure to chew and swallow.”

Sixer did as he was told, taking a large bite of the fruit and chewing for a couple seconds before he swallowed.

Maria waited until he swallowed before gently pulling one arm away from his stomach. She pressed the fruit into his hand. “Eat the rest of this. I’m going to make sure that Star and Pine have something in their stomachs.”

She moved away from him as he looked down at the fruit with an odd expression, pulling more Sitrus Berries out from that space between spaces.

She pressed a berry into Mizar’s and Sphinx’s hands – or paw, in the Ford’s case. “Get them to eat these.”

Mizar looked the berry over for a second, then nodded and knelt next to Pine. “Here, brobro.”

“A curious fruit,” Sphinx commented as he curled around Star. “What is it called?”

“Sitrus. With an ‘s’ instead of a ‘c’.” Maria tossed another Berry at Stanley. “I don’t care if his stomach has got something in it or not, having some fruit in his system will keep him from getting scurvy later.” She started moving back to the porch then as Stanley stared after her with a surprised expression.

“S-subspace?” she heard Ford ask as Maria approached.

“How would she have access to that?! That’s some kinda magic voodoo sh- scrap.”

“I have an adopted older sister who’s Cybertronian,” Maria said as she walked over. “I was only a matter of time before I managed to gain that technique.” She knelt down next to Sixer, who hadn’t moved from his kneeling position. “Your stomach still hurt? Or do you think your hunger’s been satisfied for now?”

Sixer took a moment, then shook his head. In response, Maria pulled out an apple that was twice as big as an apple was supposed to be. She pressed it into his hand. “Eat until you either no longer feel hungry, or you feel full.”

Sixer nodded and started into the apple with mechanical movements, like it wasn’t something he was used to.

“Where’d you get one of those that big?” Stan asked.

“What, that Big Apple?” Maria rose to her feet and looked at Stan. “That is literally what it’s called by the way. I picked them up in another dimension that I visited a long time ago. Practically lived off them for a full year, now that I think about it. I’ll have to see if I can plant some trees around here somewhere – both for the Apples and my Berries. They could be useful depending on what decides to hit us over the next year.”

“If that thing you have him before was a berry I’ll eat my eyepatch,” Stan said flatly. “That thing looked as big as a pear.”

That was a funny thought.

“Not my fault the climate of different planets is different from Earth’s. You’ll see what I mean – they probably will end up berry-sized here; you never know.” Maria shrugged.

The sound of apple crunching from Sixer’s devouring paused, causing Maria to glance over and down. She raised an eyebrow when she saw that he was holding the core of the apple he had been eating. “Feeling okay, Sixer?”

Sixer looked up at the question and met her gaze. “I…” He hesitated, then lowered his voice a little. “I am neither no longer hungry, nor full yet.”

Maria’s eyebrows rose. Normally a Sitrus Berry and a Big Apple were more than enough to take care of someone’s hunger. Then again, Sixer’s situation wasn’t exactly “normal.” “Wow, that’s a _really_ empty stomach, then.” She frowned, looking over at Stan. “Your nephew wouldn’t mind if Vash and I took over the kitchen for a bit, would he?”

“What, you plannin’ on cooking in there?”

“That’s the idea.” Maria grabbed another Big Apple from under her jacket and held it out to Sixer. He took it carefully in both hands and started eating it immediately. “Fruit is only going to do so much, you know?”

Stan grunted. “All right. But you’d better make enough for—“

“Way ahead a’ ya. Keep an eye on Sixer for me? Vash! Get over here – we gotta make an all-you-can-eat buffet!”

“I’m on it!” Vash scrambled over quickly, legs akimbo. “Where’s the kitchen?”

In here.” Maria motioned back to the shack. “Come on – I’ve got a few recipes in mind.” She disappeared inside the house and made a beeline for the kitchen, Vash following right on her heels.

“A kitchen from 21st century Earth,” Vash said in amazement. He looked around at the cabinets, the fridge, and the oven with its stovetop. _“Wow._ This is like walking back in time!”

“For us, it is,” Maria agreed. She started pulling berries and other food-looking supplies from under her jacket. “Check the fridge and tell me what Alex has, would you? I don’t want to use much of his stuff, but I might have to depending on what we make.”

Vash went straight to the fridge and poked his head in as Maria started hunting down cutting boards. “Okay. Wow, that’s a lot of green. Um…”

“Just tell me what you can identify from what you know and we’ll work our way from there.”

“Sure.”

**Time Break**

The kitchen turned into a bit of a mess by the end, but Maria and Vash had managed to put together a large enough amount of food that they’d needed help getting tables out into the middle of the clearing, as well as every plate of food.

“I’m afraid you’re gonna have to make a grocery trip after this, Mr. Pines,” Maria said to Alex as she carried out a pot of stew. “Sorry about that.”

“Hey, if any of this survives whatever you’re planning, we’ll have leftovers for a while,” Alex replied. He looked down at the plate of tough meat he was carrying. “What exactly is this, anyway?”

“Tomas meat. It’s a flightless bird that lives on a desert planet. Toughest meat you’re ever gonna eat, believe me.” Maria smirked as she put the stew near the center of the table. “They basically look like some kinda kiwi bird crossed with a turkey. Don’t quite taste as good, but if you steam the meat enough it gets saturated enough to be considered edible.”

“Sounds like a tough meal.”

Maria laughed. “It’s a tough planet.”

Vash nodded in agreement as he brought over a tray of sandwiches. “Yup. Gunsmoke is toughest they come, but it’s home for as long as humans are able to survive on it.”

Maria went back to the house and grabbed chairs from the kitchen before dragging them out to the clearing, two in each hand and one under her right arm. As she finished setting them up, she turned and caught sight of Sixer kneeling next to the porch, watching what was going on with Crescent sitting next to him, leaning against the wood.

“Come on! You’re still hungry, aren’t you?”

Sixer pushed himself to his feet, then swayed for a moment before he was able to find his balance by sticking his tails straight out behind him. He walked over to where the Guildmaster was standing at an even pace. Maria watched him approach with an expression that was almost unreadable.

Maria pulled a chair out and motioned for him to sit. “It’s exactly like I told you before. Eat until you’re full or no longer hungry.”

It left her with a sour taste in her mouth telling him to do things that he should have known to do on his own. But it was going to have to be something that she would have to do for now.

Sixer nodded, then sat down in the chair carefully, his tails curling around the back of the chair.

Maria patted the back of the chair – a compromise for wanting to clap him on the shoulder – then moved around to the other side of the table and sat down across from him while the others moved to join them.

Crescent came up and collapsed into the chair next to Sixer, then grinned and stabbed a whole chicken before dragging it over to Sixer’s plate. “There. Eat that.”

Maria watched Sixer out of the corner of her eye as she murmured a quick grace under her breath and reached for a couple sandwiches. It doubled as a prayer that things would go well for the four Pines at this particular meal as well.

Sixer stared at the chicken for a moment before he started eating it with a ferocious speed and hunger that Maria hadn’t seen in a man his age before. And the ferocity _continued_ as Crescent gave him another half-chicken.

Crescent wasn’t going _quite_ at Sixer’s speed, but he was going at a pretty good clip – and the same went for Pine and Star.

Finally, Sixer leaned back in his chair, putting one hand over his stomach as he finished off his second chicken. The pile of bones on his plate was a testament to his hunger – especially hunger for _meat._

Foxes – Kitsune, Vulpix, it didn’t matter what kind – _were_ carnivores. It would make sense that Crescent would push chickens in his brother’s direction.

Sixer tilted back in his chair…and kept tilting back.

Maria leapt from her chair, sending it falling back as Sixer’s chair tipped back and he collapsed onto the grass. She quickly scrambled around the combined tables to check on Sixer, reaching his somewhat-sprawled form and checking his pulse from a limp wrist.

If any of the food had _gone bad_ …Maria didn’t want to think about it.

“I didn’t think any of that chicken was – oooh. Hang on.”

He still had a pulse. It was slow, and he was breathing – deep, slow breaths – so he wasn’t choking.

Maria’s eyes widened, and she looked up at Crescent, who was watching with a slightly curious expression. “He didn’t let you _sleep_ much, did he?”

Crescent considered that, then shook his head. “Beck and call 24/7.”

Maria’s face scrunched up into an annoyed, angered expression. “Well, isn’t _that_ just great.” She huffed, then considered something.

If they hadn’t _slept,_ then there was good reason to believe that they’d be getting _nightmares_ pretty quickly.

She reached under her jacket and brought up a familiar green-yellow feather and tucked it behind one of Sixer’s ears. As she did, her fingers brushed against his ears and some of his hair, the texture of which surprised her.

His hair didn’t feel like human hair. It felt more…fur _-like,_ but not quite the right texture.

That was going to make hygiene interesting.

Maria decided to worry about that later as Sixer’s expression relaxed as a result of contact with the Lunar Wing.

 _Splat_!

Crescent’s head turned at the same time that Maria’s head whipped around. He snorted when the two of them caught sight of Pine and Star, fallen face-first into chocolate pudding.

“Someone wanna give me some help getting Sixer into the house and onto a couch or something?” Maria called. “The kids, too. And probably Crescent when he keels over.”

Crescent snorted, then yawned.

Stanford rose to his feet and came around the table. “Might as well get him inside. The children should take the beds, if they can.”

“Sounds like an excellent idea,” Sphinx said. He rose up on his hind legs for a moment to pull Star away from the chocolate pudding with one large paw; he settled back down on all fours before he started to try and get the girl onto his back himself, but then a figure flickered into existence.

Maria watched as a Dipper-looking figure in a suit, with wings so far down his spine they were on top of his rear, lifted Star from her chair and set her on Sphinx’s back, cleaning her face with a wave of his hand before he disappeared, taking one of the bowls of chocolate pudding with him.

“So that’s what he looks like up-close,” Maria commented as Stanford motioned for Stanley to come over and help.

“These tails are going to make moving him difficult, I’m going to need another set of hands,” Stanford said to his brother.

Stanley grunted. “All right, all right.” He pushed himself up from his chair and came over, looking slightly annoyed.

Maria moved quickly in response, settling herself at Sixer’s head and hooking her arms under his shoulders. “Ready when you are.”

It took some work, but they were able to get Sixer into Alex’s house, with Stanley and Stanford using one hand each to keep the tails up off the ground as much as possible. Still, two of them were left dragging on the ground.

“Try to get him on his side; his tails look like they’re going to end up being in an uncomfortable position if we just drop him on the couch like this.” Maria looked between the couch and the unconscious Sixer.

“On three then,” Stanford said. “One, two—“

The three of them put Sixer on the couch while moving him at the same time, lying the kitsune on his side facing the room. His tails curled over his legs in response as Stanford and Stanley let go.

“This is too weird,” Stanley muttered. “I’m gonna go get Crescent.” He turned and walked out of the house.

Maria looked at Sixer with a worried expression, then adjusted how the Lunar Wing sat behind his ear, just in case he moved.

“What sort of item is that?” Stanford leaned over a little to get a better look at the shimmering, yellow-green feather.

“It keeps nightmares away,” Maria replied. “If he’s gonna be sleeping for long, it’ll help make it more restful.”

“Ah.” Stanford nodded, then stepped away. “I’m going to see if I can help Stanley—“

“Yer, a person, not somethin’ less,” Stanley said as he brought Crescent into the house. It was clear that the changeling was exhausted; his legs were giving out under him. “If I have ta beat that inta yer skull, then so be it. But I’m not gonna use ya. That’d be stupid.”

With that, Stanley dropped Crescent onto the couch across from Sixer’s, Crescent falling unconscious as soon as he came into contact with it.

Stanley turned to look at Stanford and Maria as Sphinx and Mizar came inside, carrying Star and Pine. “He stopped actin’.”

Maria nodded wordlessly. She looked back at Sixer, just to make sure that he wasn’t stirring in his sleep. His face was lax.

“I hope we can help them get better,” Maria said worriedly.

“It’s more likely that we won’t be able to,” Stanford replied as Mizar came back into the room, carrying blankets.

“We got Star and Pine in bed,” Mizar said. She looked worried as she dropped the blankets on the coffee table in the middle of the room. “Alcor said that there’s a lot of damage.”

Maria grabbed one immediately and threw it over Sixer with a quick, practiced flick of her wrists. “I’m not surprised. Tech mind control is one thing to recover from, but this is a whole new ballgame.”

“Tech—“ Stanford cut himself off. “Oh, yes. Right.”

Stanley gave his brother a curious look. Stanford caught sight of it and looked over at Maria with a slightly raised eyebrow.

“Let’s just say that a bunch of people have tried to control me because of my abilities,” Maria said. “It hasn’t ended well.” She looked at Sixer. “So I kinda know what to do, but…I haven’t been on _this_ end of things before. The…the one pulling the strings, instead of being pulled.”

Stanford winced a little at the analogy while Stanley frowned.

Mizar nodded. “Think you can help them get better?”

“I intend to help as much as I can, yeah.” Maria adjusted how the blanket lay on Sixer a little, then turned and looked at the three. “Might as well let them sleep. No use standing over them like this in case they need anything.” She sighed. “As much as I hate to leave them be.”

Stanford stepped forward and placed a hand on Maria’s shoulder. “It’s only their first day, and you’ve done well so far. I’m sure they’ll be fine tonight.”

Maria paused for a moment, then nodded. “I’d better find a place to sleep, then.”

“We have a guest room.” Stanford looked over at Stanley. “Do you think—“

“Yeah, it’ll be fine,” Stanley grunted in reply. “Come on; might as well get ya settled in.”


	14. August 26, 2014

Maria woke up the next morning sprawled across the floor of the living room in a nest of blankets. Vash – who had taken Stanley’s armchair – was still sleeping quietly, and Knives wasn’t in the room.

Maria grunted in response to nighttime aches as she sat up, then stretched out her back. True, she technically didn’t need to do that, but it was an old habit she wasn’t about to break.

It took her a moment to go through her memory and remember why she was sleeping on the floor of a room that she’d only seen in cartoons. As soon as she remembered why there was a gentle tugging on her core for a _very specific reason_ , she practically leapt to her feet and strode out of the house through the gift shop.

The clearing was just as Maria remembered it – four Mystery Shacks, all facing cardinal directions. Stanley’s and Stanford’s faced into the clearing from the north, so she didn’t quite have the sun in her eyes as she stood on the porch.

And Stan’s and Ford’s shack – where Sixer and his family were sleeping – was on the eastern side of the clearing.

Maria started to make her away across the grass as someone stepped out of her intended destination. “Have they woken up yet?”

Maple shook her head as she stepped out of the shack and Maria came to a stop not far from the porch. “Nope. None of them have.” She looked up at Maria, who looked concerned. “We just gotta wait, right?”

“Maybe…” Maria folded her arms across her chest, tilting her head to one side slightly.

It was likely that they were going to end up sleeping in, considering how Sixer had collapsed the night before. She hoped that she didn’t have to go in there and _tell_ him to wake up.

“I’ll leave him be for a few more hours; he probably needs it.” She looked down at Maple again. “So, what’s the agenda for today, do you think?”

“Grocery shopping, according to Dad. And we’ve got to get school supplies too.” Maple noticed the look that crossed Maria’s face and added quickly, “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to – I mean, you don’t have to worry about that stuff, right?”

“Under normal circumstances, no,” Maria agreed. “I’m just – does this mean that Mabel and Dipper have to go back to Piedmont or—“

“Nope!” came another cheery voice.

Maria turned and saw Mabel making her way across the clearing, carrying what looked like a large bundle of art supplies. Dipper followed behind her, his journal in hand.

“Grunkle Stanley talked Mom and Dad into letting us stay up here this year!” Mabel added. “Grunkle Stanford helped. A lot.”

“He convinced them to transfer us up here to the school system in the area,” Dipper added, not looking up from his journal. He was holding a pen that looked like it had been gnawed on quite thoroughly. “And…well, after school last year and how much we talked about Gravity Falls, I guess we convinced them it would be a good idea to let us stay up here for a year and see what happens.” He stopped in front of the porch steps and looked up at Maria.

“Huh.” Maria’s eyebrows raised, impressed. She decided against asking about what had happened at their school down in California; judging by the tone in Dipper’s voice, it was probably better not to ask. “So, what are you guys doing out here? Aren’t you guys gonna be eating breakfast or—“

“Grunkle Stanley’s Stancakes won’t be ready for another ten minutes,” Dipper replied. “And Mabel wanted to get to work on figuring out what we could do to help Grunkle Sixer and the others. She’s planning on sketching them first.”

That explained the art supplies.

“Fair enough.” Maria nodded.

“What are you gonna do today?” Mabel asked.

“Well, considering that Sixer collapsed yesterday, I think that letting him sleep for a little longer would be a good idea.” Maria looked around the clearing, considering.

It was mid-morning in late August. Considering the calendar she got to glance at the night before, they had about a week before school started up and took most of the kids’ free time.

“I’m thinking about having a look around town myself,” Maria admitted. “I mean, I’m going to be here for a full year, so the people in town are gonna learn about me eventually. So I’d better take care of that sooner rather than later.”

“An excellent idea!” Mabel declared.

“We can get you in on Wendy’s friend group!” Maple added. “I’m sure they’d be really interested in meeting someone from another dimension!”

Maria chuckled and rubbed the back of her head. “I don’t doubt it. Other than your Grunkle Fords and Stan, there really isn’t anyone else around who’s done much traveling like that. And I do it on purpose.” She grinned. “So, breakfast, and then you’ll show me around town?”

“Sure!” Maple replied.

“I’m gonna come too,” Mabel added.

“Didn’t you say you wanted my help coming up with a plan to….” Dipper motioned to the house behind Maple. “I mean, if Grunkle Sixer’s acting like _that,_ that’s pretty bad.”

Mabel deflated a little. “Oh, yeah….”

Maria tapped her chin in thought, frowning. “Well, how about this – you two show me around town this morning, and this afternoon we can brainstorm together? I’m pretty involved in this too, and I’d like to know what it is you might want to get up to.”

Mabel and Dipper exchanged looks.

“As much as I want to get this problem solved, she’s got a point,” Dipper commented. “We can’t rush into this when we’re not in Maria’s position.”

Mabel sighed. “Yeah, that’s true. But I wanna make them feel better now.”

“And I do too,” Maria replied. “The problem with that, though, is that we can’t just rush in. Stanley made it a point to tell me that yesterday.” She sighed. “Hopefully we’ll be able to find a solution, but we’re gonna have to take this slow for them. So we’ll let them sleep for a bit, and you guys can show me around town while we think about ways to help.”

Mabel’s expression brightened. “Sounds like a plan! Let’s drop this stuff off first, though – and then we can have Stancakes!”

With that, Mabel rushed into the shack, then came out moments later without the art supplies. “Come on! You _have_ to try Grunkle Stanley’s Stancakes!”

“All right, all right!” Maria laughed as Mabel grabbed her hand and dragged her back to the shack. She waved at Maple, who waved back before disappearing back inside her shack. “Hey, uh – do you have different names for each of the Shacks or—“

“Sure we do! Dipper?”

“Um…let me think…” Dipper gnawed on his pen again. “Mizar called ours the ‘Classic Hut,’ hers is the ‘Memorial Library,’ and then there’s the ‘Monster Menagerie’ and the ‘Museum-to-be,’ I think.”

He pointed at each of the shacks in turn, pointing towards Stanley’s and Stanford’s hut to the north, then the shacks to the south and west before ending on the one facing in from the east.

“OK. Thanks!” Maria nodded. “It was getting a little confusing thinking of all of them as Mystery Shacks.”

“No problem!” Mabel replied cheerily. “It got confusing for us too.”

“So, if Mizar’s home is the library, have you guys seen it?”

“Once,” Dipper replied. “But…her grunkles make me nervous. They _are_ demons, but they have a more physical form than Cipher did. I think it’s because they’re different kinds, and because this is their home dimension – kinda – but I haven’t figured out anything else.”

Maria hummed in thought as they stepped onto the porch and walked back into the Hut. “I’d like to meet them at some point, but I don’t think I’m gonna do that just yet.”

“Journal’d probably try and get you to make a deal with him so he could get some of what you know,” Dipper said. “Like how you rescued Grunkle Sixer, or what you saw in other dimensions. He can actually get into your head to do that.”

“Yes, and according to what I’ve heard, it can be a very unpleasant experience,” said Stanford as they stepped into the kitchen. Stanley was at the stove, sliding a pancake onto a decent stack. Every pancake looked fluffy enough that Maria found herself thinking of her own mother’s pancakes for a moment.

“Well, he doesn’t need to get into my head to get information on other dimensions.” Maria reached under her jacket and pulled out a journal – the same one that she had let Stan and Ford look through when they had been back in her dimension. “I have everything that I’ve experienced on my travels in here.”

“You record them in a journal?” Stanford raised an eyebrow. “I would have thought that your mechanical mind would have more than enough space for something of that sort.”

“Well, I like being able to keep track of things the old-fashioned way sometimes.” Maria shrugged. “Besides, people have gotten to be pretty curious about where I’ve been, and having a book is a lot easier than…other methods.”

“…fair enough.”

“So, what are you little gremlins up to today?” Stanley put the plate of pancakes on the table. “And get that broomstick outta my chair, will ya? Shack’s gonna be closed until Labor Day, an’ me an’ my butt got plans.”

Maria snorted, and she was about to sit down at the table when she noticed a familiar figure start to emerge from the living room, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. “Morning, Vash. How’d you sleep?”

Vash yawned and made a noncommittal grunt before sitting down at the breakfast table. He muttered something about coffee.

Stanford pushed a mug across the table to Vash, and he quickly downed half of the mug before grabbing a pancake and starting to nibble on it.

“Not a morning person?” Stanford asked.

“’ts cold,” Vash replied sluggishly. He blinked a couple times as the coffee settled in, suddenly looking more awake. “I’m used to arid regions where the temperature is up in the triple digits during the day. This feels like its early morning right before the sun rises.”

“Well, the sun’s up, an’ it’s gonna get colder in a few months,” Stanley commented. He looked Vash over as he continued to eat his pancake. “We’re gonna have ta get ya winter gear.”

“Triple digits?” Dipper repeated. “I don’t think I’d be able to survive that.”

“Gunsmoke’s a harsh place to live, but it’s home,” Vash commented. He looked over at Maria as she sat down and grabbed a pancake before upending a bottle of syrup over it. “What’s the plan today?”

“I’m gonna get a feel for the town today,” Maria replied. “Sixer and the others are still asleep, and they probably will be for a while.” She paused, then added, “And since I’m thinking of finding a way to sustain myself without leeching off the Pines funds, I’m gonna need documentation so that I can get a _job,_ and since all the stuff _I_ have is from another _dimension,_ that won’t exactly fly.”

Stanley chuckled. “Let me handle that. Just gimme what ya got an’ I’ll take care of the rest.”

Maria nodded. “As much as I’d rather do things through official channels, they’re not gonna accept someone popping up out of nowhere with impossible answers.” She reached under her jacket with one hand as she stabbed a piece of pancake with the other, and dropped a large yellow envelope on the table as she bit down on the pancake. “Have at it, old man. Just give me everything back when you’re done; I consider those tokens of my timeline.”

“With pleasure!” Stanley promptly snatched up the envelope and walked out of the room, opening the envelope and chuckling to himself.

“…I’m gonna need to do that too, aren’t I?” Vash asked.

“Probably, yeah. Speaking of which – where’s Knives?”

“He was up when the sun rose,” Stanford replied. “He said he was going to explore the woods for the next few hours; he seems quite fascinated by the local botany.”

Maria nodded. “Yeah; Gunsmoke doesn’t have any surface-level vegetation, so getting a chance to study Earth plants up close like this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity – usually.”

“Usually?”

“We’ve come along on some of Maria’s World Jumping jobs before,” Vash explained. “Which, as cool as it is to meet people, a _lot_ of them are more willing to punch people than I thought they would be.” He sent Maria a look.

“Words are still an option, except when the mind is too far gone to really be able to convince them by words or telepathic contact,” Maria replied. “Which Cipher’s too crazed to be convinced.”

“…yeah. If he did that to—“ Vash cut himself off and shook his head. “When he gets here, I’m just gonna…sit that fight out.”

“I don’t blame you.” Maria went back to her pancakes and quickly finished hers off, then rose to her feet. “I’ll be waiting for you guys outside for when we head into town, okay?”

It didn’t take long for Mabel and Dipper to finish breakfast, and in five minutes they were out in the clearing with Maria and Maple before they walked down the driveway – and past the mailbox – now labeled “618 A/B/C/D” – and into the main town of Gravity Falls.

“So, where do you wanna go first?” Mabel asked. “There’s all sorts of cool places!”

“ _Not_ the Dusk 2 Dawn,” Maria replied, getting nods from the kids. “Maybe you could just show me around town to your favorite places?”

“That’s a _lot_ of places….”

“How about we show her all the arcade first?” Dipper suggested. “And the library.”

“Oooh, yeah!”

The two took Maria’s hands and led her forward down the street, Maria grinning at their eagerness to show her places around town. As they made their way towards the arcade, they passed by folks who gave Maria curious glances as they passed before quickly going about their business when Maria glanced in their direction.

Maria took note of the stares and decided to introduce herself later. She was going to have to, if she was going to be looking for a job in town.

The arcade was packed with teenagers trying to get their last moments of freedom squeezed into their summer. Mabel and Dipper didn’t wait in the entrance to give Maria a moment to look around at the set-up of the games – they dragged her straight to the back, to a game console that looked like it hadn’t been touched in a while.

In fact, if the “Out-of-Order” sign on the side was any indication, no one was probably going to be playing the game for a while.

“Hey, Wendy!” Dipper raised a hand to the group of teenagers who were talking in the back corner.

The familiar red-head looked up in response to the greeting and grinned. “Hey, Dipper! What are you doing up so early?”

“Mabel wanted to plan some things and Maria wanted a tour around town.” Dipper shrugged. “So, here I am.”

“Maria?” The teenage boy wearing a stitched heart, zip-up sweater looked at Maria curiously. The girl next to him with purple highlights in her hair looked up from her phone with a raised eyebrow. “What, is she a cousin of yours or something?”

“Or something.” Maria gave a loose salute in greeting, smirking. “I’m from out of town – _far_ out of town – and I’m gonna be sticking around for a while.”

“Welcome to Gravity Falls, then,” the boy replied. “I’m Robbie, this is Tambry, and those guys over there are Thompson, Lee, and Nate.”

Robbie motioned to the three other teens, the skinnier two cheering the third on as he tried to play on a dancing game.

“So, Maria, what brings you to Gravity Falls?” Tambry asked. She didn’t sound interested, but there was a spark in her eyes that suggested otherwise.

Maria shrugged. “My own business, mostly. I know about the creatures that live in the woods and certain events, but I’m not here as a result of what happened in 2012.”

She felt a number of stares on her at that; Robbie’s and Tambry’s expressions were especially wide-eyed.

Wendy chuckled. “She’s the one who brought Tyrone’s grunkles home yesterday.” She nudged Robbie with an elbow to his arm. “She’s seen some pretty cool stuff, I bet. And hey – Stanford apparently knows her too, so that’s a plus.”

“Really?” Lee came over, a curious expression on his face as Thompson finally pulled himself off the game. “So, what, you get dropped through a portal too or—“

“What are you kids talkin’ about?”

Lee cut himself off when a voice spoke up from behind them. Maria turned to look at the source of the voice.

“And who is this young lady?” added the police officer. He looked over his sunglasses at Maria with a grim gaze.

Maria held out her hand. “Maria Carlsdale, sir. I’m an out-of-towner who’s a friend of Stanford Pines.” She paused, then added, “And I mean the Stanford _called_ Stanford, not any of his dimensional counterparts.”

“Is this true?” the officer looked at Dipper and Mabel.

The twins nodded.

“She helped our grunkle get home, Officer Blubbs,” Mabel promised. “And she brought Tyrone’s and Maple’s grunkles home yesterday!”

“No resulting chaos from that, either,” Maria replied, causing Blubbs to look at her again. “My portals are stable. I should know – I’ve been using them to travel to other worlds for…well, for longer than you’ve been alive.”

Blubbs frowned. “I find that hard to believe, young lady, considerin’ your age. Are you going to be attending high school or—“

“I got bored enough that I took enough time in universities in my home dimension to have _several_ degrees in literature, languages, and engineering,” Maria replied flatly. “Let’s just say that I’m from an alternate future and live on a colony planet far from Earth, all right? And whatever future time war is coming in this dimension hasn’t affected mine.”

She added the last part mostly for Dipper’s and Mabel’s benefit, causing them to exchange wide-eyed looks.

Blubbs made a surprised spluttering noise, then paused and tapped his chin in thought. “Well, in that case, we’d better have some proof of your degrees fer proof of that, otherwise I’m gonna have ta do my duty as truancy officer an’ make sure you attend the local high school.”

“Fair enough. Do you want copies of my papers here and now or—“

“You have copies with you?”

Maria reached under her jacket and pulled out a stack of papers about the size of a textbook. She raised an eyebrow at Blubbs when his jaw dropped. “It’s not gonna be anywhere in school databases, I don’t think, considering that I went to college in another dimension, but these should be proof of my knowledge and skill in my degrees.” She held the stack out to Blubbs with one hand. “If you want copies of my diplomas—“

“No, no, I…I think this’ll do for now.” Blubbs took the stack of papers – he had to do it with both hands – and gave Maria a nod. “An’ where are you staying?”

“At the Mystery Shacks, for now,” Maria replied. “I have some business to take care of while I’m here, so I’ll be in town for a year at least. After that….” She shrugged. “We’ll have to see.”

Blubbs nodded. “Mayor Tyler’s gonna wanna know about this.”

“I’m not surprised.”

And with that, Blubbs walked out of the arcade, leaving the others in the building to stare at Maria with wide eyes.

“How many degrees do you have, exactly?” Dipper asked.

“Not as many as Stanford,” Maria replied. “Let’s see…I started doing the education thing after…2050? I think that was about when I got bored. I ended up receiving a bachelor degree in German, and masters in Literature History, _Media_ History, Mechanical Engineering, Biology, and Botany. So that’s six degrees altogether, plus some other hobbies I’ve picked up.”

“Boy, you sound like a total nerd,” Robbie commented. Maria looked back at him with a raised eyebrow, and he added quickly, “Wh-which is fine!”

“When you live for several centuries and have a lot of time on your hands between traveling across dimensions, you find something to do,” Maria replied with a smirk. “Trust me, watching TV and playing video games can only get you so far.”

“Centuries?” Lee repeated.

“...let’s just say that my occupation has left me _long-lived.”_ Maria gave them a dry look. “And that’s putting it mildly.”

Lee and Nate looked at each other with wide eyes. _“Whoa.”_

**Time Break**

Maria spent the rest of the day around Wendy, Dipper, Mabel, and the rest of their teenage friend group. They gave her a tour of their side of town – swinging by the cemetery, going to Greasy’s Diner for lunch, and then wandering around the streets pointing out buildings and who worked where. In return for these stories, Maria ended up answering some questions that the group had about her – mostly her personal likes and dislikes, proof that she could actually _get_ a degree in a language (which resulted in her speaking for a full five minutes in German), and how she’d been carrying around a textbook’s worth of papers without looking the least bit encumbered.

“Oh, that?” Maria reached under her jacket again. “It’s a subspace pocket. I’ve got so much stuff that I want to bring along with me that I can’t exactly pack a suitcase and drag it along behind me. My cousin, Joshua, taught me how to find a pocket dimension that I could use. It’s a bottomless personal pocket that I only I can get into, basically.”

“So, no purses?” Tambry seemed interested at the idea.

“No purses, no handbags, no backpacks, no luggage,” Maria confirmed with a grin. “I could probably teach you how to get access to one of your own, but it’s gonna take a bit – especially since you don’t need to carry as much stuff around as I do, since I technically don’t have a home of my own anymore.”

“Anymore?” That got Wendy’s attention. “What do you mean?”

“Well, you live as long as I do, and sometimes you disappear from your dimension for a long time and come back, only to find your bank account’s run dry and the house you had previously got foreclosed.” Maria made a face. “I just make it a point to live with friends I know who are still around now. It lets them know when I’m in town and when I’m not. It’s easier on everyone’s sanity that way.”

“Huh.” Wendy looked surprised, but the look on her face also suggested that she was a little concerned about what Maria had just brought up. “Well, you’re with the Pines now, right?”

“Yup.”

“Well, I can’t think of any other place more interesting than _that_ around here. You’re probably gonna get a lot of interested visitors after today, though, so I don’t know if you wanted privacy or –“

“Honestly, I was expecting to get attention sooner rather than later. Might as well get it sooner.” Maria smirked and shrugged one shoulder. “That way I can get the shock value out of the way early and not look so much like a weird invader.”

“Well, good luck with that. I think that people around town _already_ think you’re weirder than they’re used to around here, and that’s saying something.” Wendy nodded towards a pedestrian watching them across the street; Maria glanced over in their direction, but they were already walking away into the mall and out of sight.

“I’ll deal with it as it comes,” Maria replied. “Don’t worry; I’ll be fine.”

It was Sixer that Maria was more worried about.


	15. August 27, 2014

The next day – the second day after they had rescued Sixer and his family from Cipher in one fell swoop – Maria woke up to find that Sixer was _still_ asleep.

“Why is it that I get the feeling I’m going to _have_ to tell him to wake up?” Maria asked, arms folded.

“Probably because you have to?” Mizar stepped into the room, Pine following after her with an unreadable expression. “I think the idea is that if you don’t need him for anything, he’s not gonna do anything until actually need him for something.”

Maria spluttered at that. “But that – that’s cruel! Not to mention unhealthy! If he’s been lying here sleeping for about two days straight now, that’s gonna do all kinds of things to his bodily systems!”

Which made Maria remember how hungry Sixer had been two days ago, and what that most certainly _meant_ concerning the rest of his physical systems.

“Well, you’d better get him up, then,” Sphinx said as he came into the room, padding by on all fours. Maria had noticed that seemed to be his preferred way of travel. Star was sitting on his back again, still blinking the sleep out of her eyes. “Mizar, you said you were planning on making breakfast for the kids?”

“That’s the plan!” Mizar grinned. “I’ve got all sorts of delicious things I could make! Come on!” She walked out of the house with confidence, Pine practically on her heels as Sphinx followed with Star.

Maria watched them go, then sighed and looked between Sixer and Crescent, still unconscious despite the noise they’d managed to make from their conversation.

She sighed and dropped down into a crouch in front of Sixer. Well, if she was going to do this and help him, she was gonna have to _wake him up_ first.

“Sixer?”

It took a moment for Sixer to respond. He shifted a little on the couch, then his brow furrowed right before his eyes opened.

Well, that confirmed what Mizar was saying.

“You’ve been asleep for two days,” Maria said. “How’re you feeling?”

A grumbling gurgle answered from Sixer’s stomach. He seemed at least a little surprised by the sound.

Maria’s worried expression softened. “Yeah, I figured that might be it. I’m gonna see about putting something together for you guys. You, uh…” She paused, considering. “It might be a good idea if you used the bathroom. Might.”

Sixer blinked, and then his eyes widened sharply. Yup.

Maria nodded towards the stairs. “I thought as much – get going.”

Sixer scrambled off the couch and out of the room in a movement that felt more human. Maria wasn’t sure what to make of that.

As soon as he was out of sight Maria moved to the kitchen and poked around in the cupboards and found what she needed to make pancakes – and then raided the fridge for other things.

Five minutes into her breakfast cooking spree, Stanley stomped into the living room and turned, frowning at the other figure who lay unmoving on the couch. “Come on, up with you. We’re not made ta hibernate.”

Crescent grunted and shifted on the couch, before he started to sit up. “Ugh…how long was I out?”

“Two days. I thought you were gonna wake up at some point on yer own.”

“If only it were that easy.”

Maria listened to the conversation with half an ear as she worked over the stove, bacon sizzling in the pan now.

“…so Mizar was right. I sure hope some things’re still automatic, cuz I don’t wanna hang around you an’ keep an eye on ya every wakin’ hour of the day.”

“I can take care ‘a myself. Had to, for a while.” There was a pause. “Speakin’ a which, mind if I go an…?”

“Yeah sure; go.”

The couch creaked, and Maria caught sight of Crescent making his way towards the bathroom as she turned some of the bacon over.

Stanley appeared in the kitchen doorway. “Woke up Sixer, huh?”

“Yup.” Maria didn’t look up from the stove, watching the bacon. “Crescent’s gonna have to wait a bit. Sixer’s in there.”

“Not surprised.” Stanley grabbed one of the pancakes and took a bite of it. “Hm. Not bad. Not as good as mine, though.” He walked out, still taking bites of the pancake.

Maria shook her head and flipped another pancake in its pan. She chuckled under her breath. “If you’re eating it, I’ll take what victories I can get.”

When Maria was finishing with the last of the bacon and had cracked eggs into the pan, Sixer came back into the living room.

Maria caught sight of him starting to sit down on the couch in the living room and poked her head out of the kitchen.

As soon as the two of them locked eyes, Maria motioned for him to come into the kitchen. He paused at that, then moved into the kitchen at a slow, cautious pace.

He wasn’t used to her yet – clearly. Hopefully he would soon, and that his recovery would come with it.

Maria motioned towards the table and the stack of pancakes with her spatula. “Help yourself to some pancakes; I’ll have the eggs ready in a minute.” She went to the stove and started swirling the eggs together into a scrambled mess.

She heard a chair creak, then silence for about half a minute before Sixer spoke up.

“Why are you doing this, Guildmaster?”

Maria paused at the question, then frowned. She started scrambling the eggs again, but her movement was much more slowly. “What do you mean, Sixer?”

“Shouldn’t…shouldn’t you be telling _me_ to make _you_ a meal?”

Maria looked over her shoulder, pan in one hand and spatula in the other. The look on Sixer’s face was more confusion than she felt should be on his face.

She turned around to look at him square in the face. “You’re my equal, not anything less than that. And you’ve been through a lot. It wouldn’t make sense for me to ask you to do anything when you’ve been physically weakened by what Cipher’s done to you.”

Sixer blinked, still looking confused as Crescent walked into the room, still looking a little groggy. He was going to be hungry too, no doubt.

Maria poured the scrambled eggs out of the pan and put it on the stove, then held the plate of yellow fluff to Crescent. “I just got done with these, if you’re up for eating some scrambled eggs. There’s bacon next to the pancakes, too.”

Crescent’s eyes widened, and he took the plate in both hands. A line of drool started on one side of his mouth. “Bacon and eggs? It’s been too long.” He promptly sat down at the table, grabbed the bacon, and started eating with a ferocity that left his plate clean in seconds and a flash of white, sharp teeth.

Maria’s eyebrows shot up. “…well, I guess that means I’m making more bacon and eggs this morning.” She grinned, then turned back to the stove and started throwing bacon into the pan before she went looking for another one.

She was in the middle of pulling a second pan out of the cupboard when someone retched.

Maria turned sharply and sucked in a breath sharply when she saw Sixer coughing up the contents of his stomach. He leaned against the back of his chair as she let out a shout of alarm. Dropping the spatula on the stove – not on top of the pan – Maria ran over.

“Scrap scrap scrap – Guys! _Stanley!_ We’ve got a problem!”

Sixer’s eyes sank shut as he went limp against the chair. Maria pressed the back of her hand against his forehead, trying to get a read on his temperature while keeping her own consistent.

Stanley came barreling into the kitchen as Maria realized that Sixer’s forehead wasn’t _warm_ like she was expecting. “What’s—“

“Sixer’s sick. I think his immune system’s compromised.” Maria looked at Stanley. “He’s _losing_ heat – I’m getting him to the couch.”

“So he’s got what, a reverse fever?” Stanley frowned as Maria started to move Sixer off the chair, then moved to help. Sixer ended up practically draped over Maria’s shoulders; she could feel the unusual chill of his body against hers. “ _Wow_ , he’s cold.”

“Yeah. If he’s like this, then—“

“Way ahead a’ ya.” Stanley moved over to Crescent as Maria started pulling Sixer out of the kitchen and towards the living room.

“I dunno _what the hell_ is going on here but there’s no way you should be getting’ a fever this fast,” Stanley said behind her. “Come on; _you_ _’_ _re_ goin’ ta bed.”

Crescent grunted as Maria rolled her upper body out from under Sixer and pushed him onto the couch. “Uh...could we make a detour?”

“Figured.”

Maria lifted Sixer’s legs and dropped them onto the couch as he started shivering. It looked like sweat was starting to gather on his brow. She started grabbing nearby blankets and throwing them over him.

“Should’a warned ya that givin’ ‘em that kinda food right off the bat was a bad idea,” Stanley said as he pulled Crescent into the room. He had one arm of his counterpart over his shoulder.

Maria winced. “I…do admit that thought came to me too. I should have started them on toast – but they were just fine after the buffet two days ago!”

“True, but they didn’ give their stomachs much time before they basically shut down for two days,” Stanley called back as he started helping Crescent up the stairs. “This isn’t gonna be fun for ya, just a warnin’.”

“I don’t—“ Crescent made a noise that sounded like he was starting to retch, but it stopped short. “I don’t doubt it. The kids—“

“Sphinx’ll’ve noticed by now, I bet…”

Stanley’s voice trailed off as he and Crescent went upstairs, leaving Maria downstairs with a shivering kitsune.

“I need to go get more blankets,” Maria said. She didn’t know if Sixer could hear her, but she hoped he did.

She rushed off to the storage room and started grabbing blankets as Alex came down the hall.

“What’s going on?” Alex asked.

“Sixer and Crescent both came down with something.” Maria came out with her arms full of blankets. “It’s nothing series to the rest of you, but their immune systems have been compromised – probably. I’m not entirely sure _what_ _’_ _s_ going on.” She ran back to the living room.

Alex followed after her, striding quickly. “If they’re sick, then that means they need a doctor.”

“Their bodies are different from normal human ones; do you expect a doctor to be able to do anything for them?” Maria shot back. “Sixer’s temperature is _dropping,_ and his core temperature is higher than the average human’s because of his magic abilities and what he’s become. I don’t know _what_ could be said about Crescent and the others.”

Maria got back to the living room and started throwing more blankets over Sixer’s shivering form.

“I’ve never seen anyone fall this quickly or this badly before,” Maria added as other faces peered into the room from outside – Mizar with Star, Pine, and Sphinx. The two children looked fine…mostly. Maria thought that they might have been paler than they had been two days ago, but she hoped that was just a trick of the light. Or, that if it wasn’t, that they would be going to rest themselves. “I mean, yes Fire-Types can get sick in that other dimension, but I haven’t felt one turn ice cold that fast before.”

“You know what’s going on then?” Stanley glanced over as Mizar came inside.

“What is going on? Is it some kinda superbug?” Mizar asked.

“Crescent and Sixer came down wit’ somethin’,” Stanley replied. “I think it’s just that they ate somethin’ they weren’t supposed to yet. Prob’bly shouldn’t start ‘em eatin’ bacon an’ eggs right off the bat.”

Maria winced. “I get it, I get it! So I wasn’t thinking and wanted to give them a half-decent breakfast. Now they’ve just got a momentary bug.” She looked over at Sixer; he was still shuddering violently, even with the five blankets piled on top of him. “I should probably clean up that mess in the kitchen before it gets even deeper into the floor.”

“I’ll take care of it.” Alex was already moving towards the kitchen. “You don’t know where I keep the cleaning supplies.”

Maria sent an apologetic look after him. “Sixer got half a pancake in him before it came back up again.”

“I can see that. You go get more blankets so that he doesn’t lose more heat.”

Maria started to nod, then paused as another thought occurred to her. “Actually, maybe I don’t have to.”

The others looked at her in confusion as Maria knelt next to the couch.

“I have similar abilities to Sixer – we can both produce fire. And if he remembers what a Vulpix can do, I bet that if I give him as much heat as I dare to, his body will automatically absorb it and send it to where it needs to be.”

Maria raised one hand and put it gently on Sixer’s head, right between his ears. A low thrumming noise started from her chest, and the air near her shifted a few degrees warmer.

“What are you—“

Stanley cut himself off when Sixer reacted _immediately_.

The shivering came to a sputtering halt, and Sixer’s form relaxed for a moment before his head started moving slightly. It looked like he was trying to get closer to the source of the heat, but he was having a hard time doing so.

Maria put her other hand against his chest, spreading her fingers wide, and Sixer stopped moving again.

“Hnnn….”

Maria could tell that Sixer was being affected. He didn’t feel as tense as he had looked a few seconds ago. “You’re gonna be okay, Sixer.”

Sixer tried to open his eyes, but that looked difficult.

Maria readjusted how the hand on his head was resting. She got the feeling that she was going to be there a while. “It’s okay. Just rest.”

Sixer sighed quietly in response, and his eyes settled.

“Maria, you said you and he have the same abilities.” Sphinx stepped into the room. “What do you mean by that?”

“You saw before – he attempted to hit me with fire in order to either harm me or drive me away from him.” Maria looked over at Sphinx, not moving her arms. “In another dimension, the two of us met previous to all this – and we were both six-tailed foxes who could control and absorb fire. So long as the fire hasn’t gone weird, we can’t be harmed by it. I figured out that I can manipulate heat in a similar manner, and I figured that Sixer could probably do the same thing. And it looks like it’s working.”

Sphinx looked surprised, but after a moment he nodded. “I suppose that means you’ll be staying there for a while.”

Maria hummed and nodded. “I’ll be all right. I’ll need to get food later, and sleep longer than I normally do, but that’s par for the course for me. I’ll stay here for a few hours and see if that jumpstarts Sixer’s body enough that his temperature doesn’t drop again.”

Sphinx nodded, then looked at Star. He frowned. “Are you all right?”

Maria looked over at the question and blinked when she saw the wide-eyed look that was on Star’s face. She frowned as well, concerned.

“I-it’s just—“ Star cut herself off for a moment, then started again. “He…you really care about us?”

“What kind of question is that?” Sphinx wrapped a wing around Star, catching her by surprise. “Of course we care about you. You may be different in appearance and in dimension of origin, but you’re _still_ my niece. Being in your situation only makes me want to keep you _safer.”_ He nuzzled against her head while Star blinked in wide-eyed confusion. “You’ve been through far too much for someone of your age.”

Star blinked a couple times, then quickly became teary-eyed and buried her face in Sphinx’s sweater. Her shoulders shook quietly.

Maria’s shoulders sagged as she watched the two of them while Pine looked around the room in confusion.

Mizar dropped a hand on Pine’s shoulder, causing him to look up.

“Grunkle Sphinx’s right,” Mizar said. “I’m not gonna stop acting like your sister just because I’m _not._ I’m still a Mabel, and that’s what counts. Because I’m not Cipher, and Alcor isn’t either – no matter _what_ our parents said back before the dimensions got squished together.”

Maria winced a little. So that _was_ the case with her. A part of her wondered if Dipper’s and Mabel’s parents were affected by all this too, even if they lived outside Gravity Falls. It was clear that at least one set of parents was living in Gravity Falls now, but the rest? The Monster Falls and Demon Trio and Classic ‘verses? They were all outside of it.

Either that meant the parents in Piedmont had three sets of memories, or there were three more sets of parents. That thought alone gave Maria enough of a headache to put it aside for later – she had to concentrate on Sixer for now, not another dimensional conundrum involving counterparts.

“I….” Pine didn’t look like he quite knew what he wanted to say. “That’s – that’s not how this works. I’m supposed—“

“And who are you to tell me what I can or can’t do?” Mizar looked down at him with a grim expression, causing Pine to shut up quickly. She grinned and winked at him. “Ask it like a question next time you say I’m ‘supposed’ to act a certain way, kay?” She ruffled his hair between his antlers. “And I’m different from Cipher, remember? What _he_ does isn’t what _I_ do.”

The wide-eyed look on Pine’s face was enough of an indication that he was very quickly finding out the difference between having Cipher order him around and having his sister’s counterpart leading him. Maria felt it was a good step in the right direction.

_Now to see if we can make more of those steps with all of them._


	16. August 27, 2014: Afternoon

Maria remained with Sixer for the rest of the day. Well, most of it.

“I thought you were planning on being his personal heater all day,” Alex commented as he came into the kitchen.

“I am,” Maria replied. She took a bite of the sandwich in her hands and swallowed. “But I need to see if he can get himself up to his proper body heat without me being there to give it to him. That, and I was starting to get low on energy, so I made myself a quick lunch.” She went right back to eating the sandwich.

Alex blinked a couple times. “What made you come to the conclusion about the body heat thing?”

Maria swallowed the last bite and licked her fingers before answering. “Well, people with fire-like abilities are known to have an inner fire in them, so to speak. It keeps us warmer than the average person. So fevers are rarely problem-causers, because that just means the fire’s still there. When Sixer got cold earlier, that meant the fire was sputtering a bit.”

“So you’re…giving him a jumpstart?”

“Something like that.” Maria looked into the living room and frowned. “And it looks like he hasn’t completely recovered yet.” She walked over to Sixer with a purposeful expression and sat back down where she had been that morning. Her hands went back to his head and chest, and the resulting short burst of heat that followed was one that Alex partially felt in the kitchen.

Sixer’s furrowed brow relaxed almost immediately.

“How long do you think it’s going to take?” Alex asked from the kitchen, a mug of coffee in his hand.

“Not too long. I’m already using less heat than I needed to this morning; he’s starting to pick up the slack.” Maria looked back at Alex. “It’s probably just his systems weren’t used to pancakes yet.” She gained a sheepish expression. “I plan on being more careful next time I try to make him a meal.”

Alex nodded. “For someone who claims to be a ‘thousand years old,’ you act more like you’re a teenager. Are you just _saying_ that you’re older or…?”

Maria’s expression shifted at the question. “To be honest, the thousand-years thing is just a placeholder. I’ve…traveled through a _lot_ of different dimensions, and time’s passed differently in each one. I was born in 1996, so take that as you will, but in my home dimension, the year is _2996._ It’s just that I’ve lived and been around long enough that age doesn’t really mean anything to me anymore.” She shrugged. “So I just…act like the age I look, sometimes. And sometimes that means I try to be well-meaning and then consequences arise from that.”

“Doctor Who problem, then.”

“ _Exactly.”_ Maria nodded. “If I was in the middle of war 24/7, my personality would be different, but the things I do are usually lighter than that in comparison. Grand quests, clobbering villains before they end their worlds – you know, the usual.”

“Sounds a lot more stressful than war,” Alex commented.

“Eh.” Maria shrugged. “It’s what I’m used to.”

Maria stayed put for most of the rest of the day, but at the same time, her thoughts wandered. Mostly in the direction of Cipher and how angry she was getting as a result of what he had done to Sixer and his family.

Not giving them anything to eat, not giving them time to rest, turning Sixer into a _husk of himself._

Maria hoped that nothing else happened to them besides what she already knew. Stanford said that Sixer had been used to take Fords to Cipher, and now they were being used to break down this dimension’s barriers.

They had probably been used in their own dimension to torment the people who had been caught up in Weirdmageddon. If Crescent was a changeling and had to eat people in order to become them, then Cipher had probably used him so that he could watch the chaos of people never being able to trust each other.

Maria sighed quietly as she pulled her hands back, letting her power fade back in order to see if Sixer’s body could keep his temperature up without needing anymore help from her. “I hate this. I hate what happened to you, I hate that you’re – that you’re stuck like this. That you’re not yourself.” She bit her lower lip. “But what to do to help….”

Sixer kept sleeping. He wasn’t shivering as much as he had been, which was a good thing.

Maria rested the back of one hand against his forehead and waited a few seconds. It was cool, but not cold like he had been that morning. And he didn’t seem to be shivering from it, either.

Her eyes flickered from their normal bright blue to a dull red, and Maria’s vision went black for a moment before coming back with reds, oranges, and yellows in the shapes of her hands and arms as she looked down at herself for a moment. Then she looked up at Sixer.

The infrared said that his body was cooler than hers, but it was also the average temperature for a normal human body. And it was sustaining itself there, too.

Maria sighed quietly in relief as her vision flickered back to its default. “I can probably leave you be like this for a bit. You’ll probably be okay without me nearby for a while.” She rose to her feet and stretched out her back.

“Might as well go find something to eat before I go find out what else has been going on.”

Maria stepped out of the house and closed the door behind her—

“Excuse me?”

\--only to find herself face to face with a man who could be described as an old man who _used_ to be considered a hobo. The beard was still there, as well as the ratty hat, but the slacks and shirt he was wearing were decently new – and also covered in oil stains. He was also wearing a pair of flip flops.

The man looked at Maria with curious blue eyes. “Yer Maria, aren’t’cha?”

Maria blinked at the question, then nodded. “That’s me, yeah. And you’re Fiddleford McGucket, the local inventor and robot enthusiast.”

“Did Stanferd tell ya I was comin’?”

Maria shook her head. “I’ve been in there all day; I haven’t heard anything from everyone else.” She noticed the strap of a backpack hanging over his shoulder and frowned. “Were you…looking for me for a reason?”

“Well, Stanferd said ya wanted ta meet me, so I figured I’d come over an’ say hi!” Fiddleford replied. “He mentioned somethin’ about ya havin’ tech on ya too, so I was wonderin’ if ya’d let me have a look at it, since yer from another dimension an’ all!”

Ah, so that’s what the backpack was for.

“Well, you’re not wrong,” Maria admitted. “But my tech is something that’s a bit more personal than just a gadget I carry with me. I was thinking about coming up to see you so that you’d be prepared, just in case I ever needed repairs done. I wouldn’t normally do something like this, but my cousin passed a number of years ago.”

The bright, hopeful smile on Fiddleford’s face faded slightly as Maria spoke. He frowned. “What kinda personal are ya talkin’ about? Ya can’t be a cyborg – ya look completely human ta me. Unless…do ya have synthetic skin or somethin’?”

“A little of both,” Maria replied. She stepped off the porch and around Fiddleford, then turned and looked at him with a cautious expression. “How do you feel about a mechanical being with the soul of a human that is used as both the power source and the sentient intelligence?”

Fiddleford blinked at the question. “Well, that’s mighty specific! Can’t say that I’ve ever heard of such a thing bein’ possible, but then again, this dimension isn’t exactly built for that kinda thing yet! Might change in the near future, though.” He frowned. “As fer how _I_ feel about it…well, I’ve always thought of my creations as bein’ somewhat alive, at least. Does that answer your question?”

“Kinda. You didn’t cover the bit about being a human in a mechanical body, though.”

“Oh, that? Well, if it were possible fer me, I would’a done it already! I jus’ haven’t figured out how ta copy the real-deal me inta computer data yet.”

Maria chuckled. “That’s more of the answer I was expecting. All right, that makes me a little more comfortable about doing this.” She reached under her jacket and pulled out a thick black binder stuffed with papers. “I think you’ve put together your conclusions about what I’m asking by now, right?”

“That you’ve got an animal companion who’s a sentient robot?” Fiddleford grinned when he saw Maria’s deadpan look. “Nah, I getcha. Yer sayin’ yer dimension’s got the tech ta put people inta robot bodies an’ let them keep on livin’. An’ that yer in one that still looks human, righ’?”

“Right. This has got all the data on me, and since you’re a respected mechanic in town, alongside the Fords, I figured it might be a good idea if you had this nearby in case I was too damaged to be able to repair myself.”

Fiddleford gained a wide-eyed look at that, and he raised his hands. “H-hang on now! Why are ya givin’ this ta me all of a sudden?”

“I told you. My cousin – a Reploid himself – passed away a few decades ago and he was the only one my size that I trusted with repairs. As much as I trust Stanford, I’m not sure if he’d be able to handle doing the repairs that I _might_ need if I’m damaged to the point that I can’t fix myself. You’re basically my other option.” Maria shrugged, still holding the binder out to Fiddleford.

The man looked between the binder and Maria with wide eyes, then took the binder in both hands. “This is all very sudden – ah, would you mind if I have a look now? Jus’ so I can see what I’m dealin’ with in person?”

“Not an unreasonable request,” Maria agreed with a nod. She took a step back from Fiddleford to give herself more space, then closed her eyes and breathed in.

There was a flip of a mental switch, followed by a rush of energy, and when Maria opened her eyes again, Fiddleford was staring at her with eyes as wide as saucers.

“It’s in the manual,” Maria said casually. “Should be under ‘Level 3: Reploid Forme,’ or something to that effect.” She waved a white-gloved hand at the binder in Fiddleford’s hands.

Fiddleford opened it and paged through the binder’s contents quickly, occasionally looking up at Maria and observing her changed appearance. “So, this is what ya really look like?”

“That’s the idea, yeah.” Maria winced a little when she heard the metallic accent come through in her voice. Fiddleford looked more amazed rather than startled, so she relaxed. “The ability to switch to civilian clothes came later, after a series of upgrades that I’d needed at the time.” She motioned to her appearance from the neck down, which had become a set of armor instead of the jacket, shirt, and jeans she had been wearing before.

The red boots were still there, but it was clear now that they went up to her knees. Similarly colored armor protected her abdomen and chest – that piece circled around her back, where a square piece of metal that could only be described as a “battery pack” sat between her shoulder blades. Gray under-armor running underneath the heavier plates. Square-like shoulder pads and rounded, oval-like pieces on her forearms completed the ensemble, colored in orange, while bright gold rings sat at her elbow and wrist joints. There were rings at her knees as well, but they were hidden behind her boots, as they rose up more in the front than in the back.

“I don’t normally look like this walking around places, because I don’t want to catch anyone by surprise,” Maria explained. “You know, people scared that mechanical beings have advanced to the point that they could be considered human.”

Fiddleford nodded as he continued to look over the notes. “I get ya, I get ya. I’m still not used ta wearin’ clothes again, but at the same time I don’t wanna scare any possible customers off!” He gave Maria a wide, toothy grin. “Ya don’ mind if I hang onta this?”

“Not at all.” Maria shook her head as her armor shifted back to what she had called her “civilian” appearance. “Just…don’t try to experiment _too_ much with the stuff in there? I don’t want to suddenly have copies of me running around causing more trouble than the town needs right now.”

“No problem! I’ll just figure out how ta make that alloy yer made of an’ see how things go from there!” Fiddleford tucked the binder away into the worn, brown backpack he was carrying – it looked more like a sack, if Maria was honest – and was about to turn and go when he paused. He looked over at the porch and the closed door right next to them, then back at Maria. “So, uh…Stanferd said that ya found another fam’ly?”

Maria’s shoulders drooped at the question. “He told you about that?”

“Well, when he went inta town with Alex and got a banquet’s worth of food, I had to admit I was more’n a little curious! He told me that they’d fallen on bad times an’ ya’ll were helpin’ ‘em get back on their feet. Is that true?”

So Stanford hadn’t given Fiddleford the whole story. Not yet, anyway.

Maria nodded. “Yeah; they…they lost their home to you-know-who, and it’s been a while since they’ve been in a place where time flows linearly enough that their bodies function like they normally would. I tried to give Sixer pancakes for breakfast this morning and that backfired when it turned out his stomach wasn’t used to that kind of food yet.” Maria winced. “He’s asleep in there now; he’ll probably be more awake and moving around tomorrow afternoon or so.”

Fiddleford paled when Maria mentioned Cipher without actually mentioning him. “You know—“

“The whole multiverse knows about him; it’s hard _not_ to. Especially in my case, since Stanford’s life was turned into a _cartoon_ in my dimension. Admittedly, I changed a few things by getting involved, but things still followed the same general route.” Maria sighed and put her hands in her jeans pockets. “Alternate timelines from his are where knowledge of linear events goes out the window, though. Like Mizar’s family, or Sixer’s.”

Fiddleford stared at Maria with wide eyes. “So, you know about – about everythin’ that’s happened?”

“Not everything, but a good deal of it. I can’t claim to be omniscient, as much as I might appear to be.”

Fiddleford nodded. “You’d better let the Mayor know ‘bout that, before he sends the police after ya fer knowin’ things about the town that new folks shouldn’ know.”

“I’m planning on talking to him at some point, yeah.” Maria nodded. “Because there are a few other things that are going to happen because Sixer and his family are here.” She paused, then added more quietly, “We had to _rescue_ them from you-know-who. And he’s apparently gotten greedy enough that he wants this dimension too. He’s basically using their presence here to break down the dimensional walls enough that he can come through himself, from what I understand.”

Fiddleford paled even more than he had been. “What?! He’s – but we—“

“Just like there are counterparts to the Pines, _he_ _’_ _s_ got them too apparently.” Maria frowned. “I don’t like it either, but at least we have time to prep for when he starts trying to get into this dimension.”

“H-how long?”

“A year, give or take a few days. That’s what Star – Mabel – said when we found them. So if nothing else, we have time and their experience with him to make sure that we aren’t caught off-guard. Not this time.”

Fiddleford nodded, slowly at first, but then more quickly. “Right. I-I’ll get ta work on plannin’ some defensive weapons right away, an’ warn the town about this. If we—“

“Maybe I should be the one to tell the town,” Maria spoke up. “Or, at least, wait until Sixer’s feeling better so that we can have some confirmation other than just what the Pines and I know already. Sixer’s in _bad_ shape mentally, though, so I don’t know how long it’s going to be before he would be able to make that kind of an appearance.”

“I’ll bring it up with the mayor when I tell ‘im that you’re familiar wit’ the things that happen in town,” Fiddleford said. He paused. “How bad…?”

Maria’s mouth pressed into a straight line. “He lost Weirdmageddon, and he wasn’t given a second chance to fight back. He’s a shadow of his former self.”

Enough details, but not all of them. He didn’t need to know about the state of his soul.

Fiddleford looked worried at that. “Oh dear. That’s…that’s quite bad, fer a Ford. I’ll, uh – I’ll tell the mayor ta hold back on comin’ up ta say hi ta him, at least. For a couple’a weeks. Maybe he’ll be feelin’ better in a bit.”

“I hope so.” Maria nodded.

“Whelp. I’d better get to work on those weapons of mass destruction! We’re gonna need ‘em fer defense when the time comes!” Fiddleford waved at Maria. “It was nice ta meet ya, Miss Maria! I’ll be seein’ ya!”

“And the same to you, McGucket!” Maria replied with a half-grin as Fiddleford turned and ran down the driveway. As soon as he was gone, Maria sighed and looked towards the woods.

The porch door opened, and Stan stuck his head out. “Hey, kid? Sixer was awake for a bit, but he went back ta sleep.”

“Thanks for letting me know.” Maria stepped back up onto the porch. "He’s probably gonna sleep for the rest of the day again, I think. Or maybe be awake in a few hours.”

“And if he’s hungry, what’s your plan then?” Stan raised an eyebrow.

“Soup,” Maria replied. “Really _bland_ soup.”

**Time Break**

True to Maria’s word, she went into the kitchen and made a rather bland soup that basically amounted to chicken noodle soup without most of the seasoning that she normally used. Alex gave her a TV tray to leave it on, and she sat down in the living room and pulled out one of her journals – the one that she recorded the various worlds she had been to, rather than the list of alternate universes that existed in the hearts of fans for centuries.

She included a basic sketch of the circle of huts, adding in the names that Dipper had given her yesterday morning. Quick notes on each house, who she had met or at least seen and those she hadn’t had a chance to run into yet.

“I’m gonna want to at least talk to Alcor, Journal, or Andrew, I think,” Maria murmured to herself. She twiddled her pen between her fingers. “Alcor knows something about what happened to them…do I want to talk to him about it or get it out of Sixer? I don’t want to make things more uncomfortable for him than they likely already are…”

Maria went back to writing, making notes on the new family of Pines – Sixer, Crescent, Pine, and Star – and leaving a large enough space on a page to sketch them out properly, before she turned her focus to writing what she knew about their universe and their current condition.

Something shifted on the couch, and Maria looked up, brow furrowed. Her expression relaxed when she saw that Sixer’s eyes were open.

“Hey. Are you feeling okay?”

Sixer’s eyes glanced away for a fraction of a second. “I…I believe I require food?”

He’d glanced down at his stomach then. That made sense.

Maria’s shoulders relaxed. “Well, I know how to solve that.” She reached over and grabbed the soup bowl, dropping her pen in the same movement. “You’ve been asleep for a while. Since you guys are different from normal humans, I think you’ll get better faster than most people in your state are supposed to. Crescent was able to get up about an hour ago.”

He’d poked his head into the kitchen with Stanley and asked for a bowl of the soup she’d made. Last she’d seen, the two of them had disappeared out into the open clearing. Whatever they were up to wasn’t her business.

Sixer nodded a little.

“Do you have enough strength to sit up?”

Sixer moved his arms, attempting to position his hands so that he could push himself upright. Because he was lying on his side, one arm was already in a good position for that, but the limb trembled when Sixer started pushing himself up into a sitting position.

He was able to get up partially before he lost the strength in his arms and fell back to the couch with a grunt, ears drooping. He started to move again when Maria held up a hand to stop him.

“It’s okay. Don’t push yourself right now.”

Sixer lowered himself back onto the couch as Maria moved to hold the soup bowl in both hands.

“We’ll just do things a different way from how I would have liked.” Maria stirred the broth with the spoon, making sure that the ingredients within were consistent throughout. “Okay?”

Sixer nodded quietly.

“Okay.” Maria held up the spoon, and Sixer opened his mouth enough that Maria could stick it inside. The broth was immediately swallowed, and Maria pulled the spoon back.

She waited a couple seconds, and when Sixer didn’t look like he was going to puke again, Maria said carefully, “We’ll keep going until either you’re not hungry or you don’t think you can eat anymore for now, okay?”

Sixer blinked, then nodded. “Okay,” he echoed.


	17. August 28, 2014

**Chapter 17** **– August 28, 2014**

“Hey, Maria.”

Maria looked up from her journal and blinked when she saw Mizar poking her head into the living room. “Yeah?”

“I’m calling a family meeting,” Mizar said. “It’s been a couple days since things happened, and Alcor and I think it’d be a good idea to talk things over and figure out what’s happened so far and what we could do next.”

Maria blinked at that, then looked over at Sixer, who was sitting in an armchair in a back corner of the room. After the fiasco yesterday involving the pancake, she’d been a bit more careful about what food to give him this morning. As he was still chewing slowly on one of the two slices of toast, she figured that meant his digestive systems had decided to cooperate for now.

“Yeah, sounds like a good idea,” Maria agreed. The journal and pen quickly disappeared under her jacket, and she rose from the couch. “Where’s the meeting gonna be?”

“Alex said he wanted to do it here, so Journal and Andrew probably aren’t gonna show up, but everyone else will be here.”

“Will Mrs. Pines be?”

Sixer looked over at the question. Maria wasn’t sure how to read his blank expression – yet – but she got the feeling that he was expecting an answer just as much as she was.

“She works at the hospital in the next town over,” Mizar explained. “That’s probably why you haven’t seen her yet. She knows what’s going on though.”

Maria blinked at that. “Ah. Okay then – I hope I get to meet her face to face soon. I’m surprised I haven’t yet.”

“I know, right? Meeting’s gonna start in about five minutes; everyone should be over by then.”

As soon as Mizar disappeared back through the door, Stanley and Crescent walked in, followed by Stanford, Dipper, and Mabel. And then came the rest of the families, followed by Mizar, Vash, and Knives – the last of whom looked like he would rather be anywhere but here.

“I call this Pines Clan meeting to order!” Mizar announced as others found places to sit. Sixer remained in his back corner, finishing off nibbling on the last of his toast. “So, we’ve gotta talk about what just happened a few days ago and what we’re gonna do about it. We should probably _also_ talk about our guests from another dimension and what’s gonna happen in town now that they’re here.”

“Let’s start with that,” Stanley grunted. “You guys have been around for the last four days; what do you think of the town?”

“Well, the people here are pretty nice,” Vash said.

“They don’t seem to be too questioning,” Knives added. “Considering what I have seen and been told live in the woods, this leads me to believe they believe _us_ to be magical creatures of some kind.”

“They aren’t far off,” Stanford commented.

“…no, but I am glad they are leaving me alone as a result of that.”

Vash nodded in agreement.

Maria nodded. “I met with Wendy and her friends a couple days ago. They gave me a tour of the town — Blubbs thought that I might have been a high school student who was transferring in, but I told him otherwise. I’m probably going to have to head in with some form of identification to prove that I _have_ graduated from high school.” She raised an eyebrow at Stanley.

“Give ‘em a couple more days; they’re still tryin’ ta figure out what they’re lookin’ at,” Stanley replied. “I mean, _I_ looked through there an’ it looked like there was a lot of stuff that came outta science fiction, kid.”

“Fair enough.”

“Does Blubbs know you’re from another dimension, then?” Stanford asked.

“Yeah. I gave him copies of my final papers for the six degrees I have; the dates on those will be a pretty good indicator, considering that they’re later in time than where we’re at now.”

The Fords in the room looked surprised at that — except for Sixer, whose expression didn’t change.

“Which means they’re gonna know about Cress an’ the others soon enough,” Stan commented. Ford, who was standing behind him, nodded quickly, looking nervous.

“Which is going to be difficult,” Sphinx spoke up. “The mayor set up a Never Mind All That Act at the end of Weirdmageddon, apparently — in Stanford’s timeline, at least. And it’s still held true in this timeline so far, and I doubt it’s going to be lifted very easily.”

“Never Mind All That Act?” Stan raised an eyebrow. “What’s that?”

“That was put in after Weirdmageddon,” Dipper explained. “Mayor Tyler and the rest of the town don’t like to talk or think about what happened in August two years ago, so they just…don’t. At all.”

“Which means that mentioning you-know-who is a bad idea in town unless Mayor Tyler has a loophole put in just in case there’s an emergency.” Maria paused. “Which, I hope he does, because otherwise I’m gonna be breaking that law several times over when we start getting their attention about what’s coming. I get the reason why it was put in in the first place, but in this instance it’s going to be more of a hassle to work around than we want or need it to be.”

There were several nods of agreement from most of the Pines. Pine, Star, Crescent, and Sixer just looked either straight-faced or confused at the conversation.

They hadn’t had to deal with a situation like this before, so of course they didn’t know what was going on.

Maria tapped a couple fingers against her chin, frowning as she thought. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to introduce them to the town yet. Vash, Knives, and me, certainly, but…I don’t know about exposing them to the rest of the town all at once. Maybe just in small groups?”

“That would be better,” Sphinx agreed immediately. “Especially as this is a group of people that, last they saw, were trapped in Cipher’s Fearamid.”

That statement caused something else to occur to Maria. “And the people here are going to ask questions — they don’t _remember_ Sixer’s timeline like they do the rest of yours.”

“…yes, that would be a good point to bring up,” Stanford muttered. “Soos and Wendy haven’t seen them yet, at least, but I doubt that’s going to last for long. I have no doubt they’re going to notice we’re having these meetings on days when the Shack isn’t open and come and investigate, whether or not the high school is having classes.”

“Classes are only gonna stop Wendy; Soos is somethin’ else,” Stanley spoke up. “He’s runnin’ my Shack right now, remember? He’s gonna swing around here at some point after hours an’ he’s gonna find these guys an’ want in on things. I’m surprised they haven’t learned about ‘em in the last few days, what with how out of it they all got.”

“They’ll probably learn about it in the next day or two now that you’ve said that,” Maria said.

“I would not be surprised,” Stanley replied dryly.

“Fiddleford said you told him at least some of the details of what happened when he came by yesterday.” Stanford looked at Maria. “He seemed quite worried by what you’d told him and is already working on defensive weaponry that could keep Cipher at bay when he arrives next year.”

Maria nodded. “Yeah, I told him enough to get the point across. I did hint that it was Cipher who had caused it to happen in the first place, though, so we can’t repeat my explanation too well, I don’t think.”

“We’ll figure somethin’ out,” Gargrunkle said from the doorway. The gargoyle was standing more outside than inside — his wings were spread, so it didn’t look like he was going to be setting foot inside anytime soon. “Whether that means loopholes or whatever, we’ll get the word out.”

Maria’s mouth became a straight line, but she didn’t argue against Gargrunkle’s point. This was just another problem that could be solved.

Right now they had a bigger problem in helping Sixer and his family recover. A part of her wished that she could go back in time and solve things sooner.

“I’m sure that won’t be an issue,” Sphinx commented. “Word puzzles are interesting ways to spend time.” He looked over at Maria. “I noticed that you hadn’t asked about the exact date and year in the last few days. Were you able to find that answer for yourself?”

Maria nodded. “Yeah; I found a satellite to connect to when I was out with Wendy. Kinda spaced out for a bit while they were talking about an old cabin in the woods that Wendy’s dad owns but never lets them go to. I’m surprised it’s 2014, considering how old some of the younger twins are. I would have thought it was 2013.”

“It’s on account of Mizar’s dimension,” Stanford replied.

Mizar looked sheepish and rubbed the back of her head. “Yeah; everything just jumped forward a year when I got merged in.”

Maria nodded. “This is going to be a real blast from the past for me, but I think that I’ll be able to adapt. It’s not going to be a problem.”

“Um…”

Sphinx looked at Star as Sixer turned his head slightly to look in her direction. Maria noticed the head-turn and watched him out of the corner of her eye.

“We…we’ll have to tell them, right?” Star looked around the group nervously. “A-about who’s coming.”

“Eventually,” Sphinx replied. “Considering the chaos that came about when he invaded the _first_ time, I should think that the townsfolk are going to want to be more prepared for a second apocalypse. We have to give them more time.”

“I don’ think tellin’ ‘em now about it would be a good idea,” Stan spoke up. His usually-silent brother gripped Stan’s arm with a wide-eyed look as Sixer watched. “I know, bro, but think – tellin’ ‘em now, with a _year_ between – it’ll just make ‘em all paranoid messes, ya know? I say we wait a bit longer, give ‘em a bit of time ta get more used ta all those memory problems you were tellin’ us about.”

“They’ve had three months,” Stanford commented.

“And there are some people who still get thrown for a loop when they wake up in the morning and realize they aren’t werewolves or vampires,” Dipper spoke up suddenly. Tyrone nodded in agreement next to him. “I mean, _we_ _’_ _ve_ got people who are like that, sure, but they’re not having memory identity crises.”

Maria motioned to Dipper. “He’s got a point there, but I think people have pretty much figured things out by now.”

A part of her quietly nagged her to try something. A frown crossed her face.

What if she was to try and access Sixer’s dimension, but…not in _his_ present?

“…although, I bet that, if we could find a Sixer with fewer tails than he has now, the whole Weirdmageddon Round 2 thing won’t be a problem.”

That statement got her a number of blank looks.

“I’m gonna try something.” Maria moved a couple steps forward, taking a more central position in the living room. She saw Vash and Knives exchange looks and held back grinning at them.

“What are you gonna do?” Mabel asked with a curious expression.

“I want to see if I can rescue these guys earlier in their timeline.” Maria cracked her knuckles. “If they can be rescued with less damage from that triangular beastie than they have now, they would definitely be better off.”

Sixer blinked as she looked over at him, but he didn’t seem to register what Maria was saying.

“Are you suggesting that you can time travel?” Sphinx asked. Star, who was sitting next to him on the floor, looked nervous.

“People like me do that all the time traveling between dimensions, since the rate of time is different in each one.” Maria made a slight waving motion, as though she could clear the doubt from the room. “If I get it right, I bet I can punch a hole through space and time in order to go back to some point in the past when they’d be faster to recover.” She looked around the room. “Any objections to me trying?”

Stanford rose from the chair he was sitting in across the room from Sixer and pulled a blaster from under his trench coat. “I don’t see why we can’t attempt it, but you are going to need more weaponry than just what you have equipped.”

“I can summon an army of allies who I am sure would _love_ to tear this guy to pieces.” Maria grinned, but there was a dark glint of something in her eyes that offset the eagerness she was displaying. “There are a _lot_ of people out in the multiverse that would want a piece of Bill for what he’s done.” She looked around the room at the assembled Pines. “You guys ready to give it a shot?”

“Yeah! Let’s do it!” Maple pulled a grappling hook out from under her sweater — which had a bottle of maple syrup on the front — and held it aloft, prepared to fire.

“I’m up for round 2.” Stanley grinned and cracked his knuckles.

Maria glanced around the room and saw similar expressions of determination on most of the others, but it was mixed with confusion on the faces of some. She gave them a thumbs-up, then snapped her fingers at the air in front of her.

_Sixer’s dimension, as early as possible._

A bright crackle of blue lightning flew from Maria’s fingertips, and a bright blue, circular, stable portal appeared in the middle of the living room.

Maria grinned as the Pines grabbed their weapons. She started forward, intent on walking through the portal—

—and her foot hit a solid barrier of energy and didn’t pass through.

“What in Primus…?” Maria frowned. Then the portal started to ripple, and her eyes widened as the gentle whirlpool of blue energy started to clear up. “Oh, you have _got_ to be kidding me.”

Maple started to lower her chosen weapon. “What is it?”

“This is a _window,_ not a _portal_ — something’s keeping me from going into their past! That means it’s a _fixed point in time,_ and I can’t go back and _change_ any of it!” Maria slammed her right fist into the circle of energy as the blue glow faded almost completely, and the energy cleared up.

She saw black brick-made walls and a floor of the same material. She saw a throne made of people trapped in stone in agonizing positions. And she saw not one — but _two_ Ciphers — and a small number of figures below them.

The sight made Mara grit her teeth and snarl.

“It was worth a shot,” Stan offered. “Seemed like a good idea.”

Stanford sighed and put his blaster away. “Indeed it was.”

Maria was about to agree and close the portal, but then a thought occurred to her.

These ‘windows’ — in the few times that she had used them — worked both ways, in both sight _and_ sound.

And she had some frustration she wanted to work out.

“There’s still something I can do, though.”

There was a grin on Maria’s face now, but it wasn’t entirely friendly.

“I’ve always wanted to see how Cipher would react to something like this.”

The grin widened wickedly as Maria took a deep breath, then shouted into the wide open window. “THREE ANGLES MAKES A NINCOMPOOP IGNORAMAGON!”

Sixer sat ramrod straight in his chair as the figures on the other side of the window — Cipher, the smaller ones below — started to turn in order to find the source of the sound. The Pines, Vash, and Knives all stared at Maria with expressions of shock.

Maria stuck her tongue out. “Pbbbbbbth! HA!” Then she flicked her wrist, and the window collapsed in on itself, disappearing from existence.

The living room was quiet for only a few seconds.

“That was you?!” Crescent stared at Maria with wide eyes, jaw dropping in shock before he recovered and started grinning. “Do you know how long I’ve been wonderin’ who ta thank fer hearin’ that particular name?”

“Maria, that was extremely reckless,” Knives said disapprovingly. It sounded like he might have been also a little impressed, but Maria couldn’t quite tell.

“Like I was going to let an opportunity pass me by!” Maria retorted. “That eldritch monster’s _lucky_ that this thing’s a fixed point in time, or else I would have jumped in there and summoned the Guild and taken him on right then and there! It would have saved us a lot of trouble in the long run, believe me!”

Granted, now that she thought about it, it would have meant that this dimension as it existed now — with four Gravity Fallses merged together — probably wouldn’t have existed, and Sixer would likely be in a far different position than he was now — but they would have been given more time to recover and less time to be stuck.

Crescent’s eyebrows shot even higher as Star and Pine exchanged wide-eyed looks. Apparently, they hadn’t been expecting that from Maria.

“D-do you realize what you’ve done?”

For a second, Maria thought that it had been Ford who had spoken, but when she saw where his gaze was going, she turned and looked at Sixer.

Sixer’s tails were curling around him, his ears were flat against his head, and he was pulling back into the chair. He was trying to make himself _smaller?_

Maria’s determined expression faded into a confused frown. “What do you mean? Are you talking about the portal thing?” She paused. “Oh, yeah, you guys don’t know — I completely forgot about that. It’s okay, Sixer — I do that all the time. I’m a World Jumper; it’s kinda what I do. I mean, sure I’m called Fire Storm, but fire’s not the only thing that I mess with.”

That only caused the fur on Sixer’s tails to _rise,_ making him look even more unnerved and scared. _“They_ arrived not long after this event and placed a bounty on your head. _They_ made a deal with _him.”_

“A bounty?” Vash repeated.

Maria’s frown deepened. Sixer was bringing something up on his own, yes, but he was terrified to do so. She moved closer “They who, Sixer?”

Sixer sank back into the chair, still trying to make himself smaller. Maria got the feeling that if he could have pulled his legs up and curled into a ball, he would have. “The — the Dark Arms.”

Maria felt her core become cold as Sixer closed his eyes tightly.

_The Dark Arms?_

…so they hadn’t disappeared into the void after all. And they had made a deal with Cipher no less. But Maria needed more information — this could have been back during the time when they had been looking for her to _cause_ some plan of theirs.

She had to approach this carefully. Sixer looked like he was expecting her to start yelling at him.

“Did they say anything about me thwarting any plan of theirs?”

Sixer’s ears rose a little from their flat position. His expression shifted slightly from expectant _fear_ to what Maria hoped was confusion. He nodded. “Yes.”

Maria’s mouth became a straight line at that; she heard Vash fidget on the other side of the room. “Did they mention the Continuum Shift by name?”

Sixer nodded again. “Yes.”

“You know about the cosmic reset button?” Stanford asked in surprise.

“Yeah.” Maria glanced back at Stanford. “I know how to hit it — I did it when the Dark Arms made a few moves the multiverse didn’t like.” A bit of her annoyance worked its way into her voice at the memory. The Dark Arms had wanted to create their own paradise of a dimension, only to end up creating an amalgamation that was ready to collapse in on itself.

She sighed through her nose. “It’s only a last resort for me, though, and I doubt that hitting it would be of much help to Sixer and the others.” She looked at Sixer, who was still waiting with his eyes shut.

He was expecting anger, but she wasn’t mad — no; she was _terrified._

Terrified of the creatures that were going to be coming after her again, and try to cause entire dimensions to collapse _all over again._

“Sixer, thank you for telling me about this.”

Sixer hadn’t been expecting that. Maria could only tell because his brow furrowed in confusion, and he cracked his eyes open, looking scared and confused. “You-you’re not mad?”

“Mad?” Maria shook her head, frowning. “I’m not mad at _you_ if that’s what you’re suggesting. You didn’t know who exactly I was to them before now; it’s not your fault.”

Sixer looked back at her with an openly confused expression.

“Maria, something tells me this is an instinctive response,” Stanford spoke up worriedly.

Maria’s expression shifted at that. Of _course_ Cipher would beat his anger out on Sixer when his temper flared up. Of _course_ Cipher would treat the man who had been a thorn in his side for 30 years like a big punching bag.

“Sixer, I’m not going to take my anger at the Dark Arms out on you. It wouldn’t be right, and it wouldn’t be healthy for either of us.”

Especially since it wasn’t a habit that she thought was a good one to have, and she _wasn’t angry._

“I don’t do that sort of thing, and I don’t ever intend to. You have my word on that.”

Sixer blinked, his expression confused and disbelieving.

Maria felt that she needed to get through to him a little more.

She reached out with a hand, causing Sixer to jolt like he was expecting to be slapped. Maria winced at the reaction, pulling back a little, but then she moved forward again and placed her hand on his shoulder.

A quick thought, and a pulse of warmth ran its way down her arm and into Sixer, causing him to stiffen in surprise at it as he looked at Maria with wary confusion.

“I am not like Cipher,” Maria said. “You’re safe here, Sixer. I promise.”

Sixer blinked, still looking confused, but he still reacted to the warmth that Maria was giving him. The tenseness relaxed from his shoulders and, after a moment, Sixer sighed and went nearly completely limp in the chair.

It looked like, at least, he wasn’t going to be panicking about getting hit.

Maria looked Sixer in the eyes — he’d half closed them, likely because of the warmth she was pulsing with — and removed her hand after a moment. She hoped that she had been able to get through to him.

“Who are the Dark Arms?” Tyrone spoke up. “How dangerous are they?”

“Very dangerous.” Maria glanced at Sixer. He met her gaze for a moment, then looked away. “They’re something from my past that I’d thought died a long time ago. Guess I’m not so lucky.” She looked away from Sixer and looked at the rest of the group. “I don’t think this is gonna change anything about Weirdmageddon.”

Sphinx frowned. “If he is aware that we rescued—“

“He _is,_ and I doubt that Cipher’s gonna let an alien race that _failed_ to create a new dimension get involved in what he does.” Maria shook her head. “That’s what the Continuum Shift was used for. If anything, they’re going to come around and see if they can catch me after the apocalypse starts, if he decides to let them know. I’ll worry about the Dark Arms; they’re _my_ problem. Let’s just focus on helping the Pines we’ve rescued for now.”

There were a few exchanges of looks between the others.

“We’ll leave them off the table for now,” Stanford said. “But if they start to become a problem, we’re taking about it again before they _do_.”

“We don’t want to end up getting caught by surprise if they do show up,” Dipper added.

Maria nodded. “Fair enough.”


	18. August 28, 2014: Afternoon

Maria had been gnawing on the clicker of her pen when the door slammed open and Wendy walked inside with a determined expression.

“Wendy!” Maria closed the journal and rose from the chair. “I thought you were gonna be over at the Shack all afternoon with Soos.”

“Well, I _was,_ but then Sphinx showed up with a little girl who looked like she’d seen _war_ and told me about what’s going on.” Wendy looked over at Sixer, who was sitting on the couch now, the remains of a sandwich sitting on a plate near him. The kitsune didn’t meet her gaze, instead focusing on Maria’s feet. “That’s him?”

“…yeah.” Maria’s expression went from surprise to a somber expression. “That’s Sixer.”

Sixer’s ears turned in Maria’s direction, and he lifted his head slightly, looking at Maria and Wendy but not looking either one of them in the face.

Wendy looked startled when she saw the blank expression on Sixer’s face. “If he’s like this — if his whole family’s like this — what about the rest of his Gravity Falls?” She looked at Maria with an angered expression. Like Maria should know what’s happening in Sixer’s dimension.

The thought made Maria uneasy. If _Sixer_ had lost his willpower….

Wendy started talking again. “If _he’s_ like this, what about—“

“Sixer?”

Sixer’s gaze snapped to Maria.

“We only saw you four pop in, and I haven’t sensed any more rifts opening up. Did…did Cipher do to everyone what he did to you?”

Sixer shook his head slowly. “No, Guildmaster.”

Wendy’s expression shifted, her face paling a little. “That’s not Dr. Pines.”

Maria sighed, looking at Wendy sadly. “He’s a shade of who he used to be.” She looked at Sixer. “What did happen to them?”

“The populace of Gravity Falls have been collected to form his throne,” Sixer replied. “The only exception being the members of the Zodiac, six of whom were transformed into tapestries.”

“And he hasn’t done anything with them?”

Sixer shook his head. “He has…allowed them to become sentient, sometimes. But he has not changed them physically.”

Wendy focused on Sixer. “When you say ‘become sentient,’ how can you tell?”

Sixer didn’t answer. His gaze remained on Maria.

“Answer her, Sixer,” Maria said. She was sad that she had to tell him to.

Sixer closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again. “The tapestries have allowed those trapped in them to move and take on different appearances in response to what we have done. The – _he_ grew bored with allowing them to do so after some time, and instead has left them with expressions of horror.”

Wendy swallowed audibly. “I…think I remember becoming that? But it all feels like a nightmare that I’d rather not think about. Or can’t think clearly about.”

Sixer said nothing in response. Maria, on the other hand, winced — she knew what it was like to have nightmares you’d rather not remember. There were a few people far back in her past that she knew she would rather forget.

Wendy looked at Maria. “If he’s like this, he needs a therapist or _something._ He can’t just stay cooped up in here and not talk to people forever.”

“The problem here isn’t that I _want_ him to stay here,” Maria replied. “It’s how people are gonna _react._ The reason he’s like this is because he _lost._ Cipher’s coming here at the end of next summer, and he _turned_ Sixer into this.” She motioned to Sixer as Wendy’s eyes widened. “People aren’t gonna take too kindly to the fact that he and his family are basically Cipher beacons right now.”

“…geez, yeah, no.” Wendy looked uneasy. “People are gonna find out either way, though. I mean, Vash and Knives have been getting a _lot_ of attention, so it’s only a mater of time before Mayor Tyler comes out to say hi to you guys and find out what’s really going on.”

Maria sighed. “I don’t doubt it. How did Soos take the news?”

“He’s probably gonna learn it in fifteen minutes. Sphinx came in after he’d started one of his tours. He’s probably gonna hand the reins over to Stanley as soon as he sees that kid.” Wendy shook her head. “She shouldn’t have that look on her face.”

“None of them should.” Maria looked at Sixer, who didn’t meet her gaze. “Cipher did something terrible to all of them, and right now, Crescent’s the only one who is acting like he normally does. But that’s it — he’s _acting._ Stanley said he isn’t up to snuff yet, either.”

Wendy groaned and ran a hand through her hair, pushing back a few stray locks. “Well, _this_ just keeps getting better and better.” She looked at Sixer, then looked back at Maria. “So, uh…therapist? I bet I could find someone in town.”

“Who isn’t going to break when they find out that Cipher tore them apart?” Maria responded. “And is going to be able to handle whatever dark chaos lies in his past as a result?”

Wendy opened her mouth, then shut it again. After about a half-minute of frowning, ticking off fingers, and murmuring names to herself, she looked back at Maria. “I think the Multibear _might_ be able to help, but I’ll have to see. Dipper’s got more pull with him than I do.”

“Do what you can,” Maria replied. “I’m not about to ask much more than that right now.”

Wendy nodded, then looked over at Sixer again. “And get him outside for some fresh air, will ya? He looks way too pasty.” With that, she ducked out of the house and ran back to the Shack, leaving the door open behind her.

Maria watched Wendy disappear, then looked over at Sixer. Wendy was right; he looked a little paler than he probably should have been. And writing in her journal _was_ starting to get a little old.

“Come on, Sixer.” Maria motioned for Sixer to follow her, and she started out of the house. She saw him rise from the chair and follow after her with almost mechanical movements, but at the same time, there was something unusually fluid about his movements.

It probably had something to do with the tails. Maria pushed that thought to the back of her mind.

“I need something to do to keep busy, and right now there isn’t anyone to fight,” Maria said as they walked into the clearing. “And leaving you to sit around and do nothing all day wouldn’t be a good idea.”

They walked to the edge of the clearing on the opposite side of the driveway and entered the woods.

“I’ve got a few things from another dimension that I could plant and make a garden out of,” Maria explained as they moved through the woods. “Just have to find a large enough clearing that could work and keep out of the way of most other people….”

It took a few minutes for Maria to find a large enough clearing not far from the Mystery Shacks. It was large and appeared to be untouched, but Maria wasn’t sure if there were creatures that lived in the area that used the place.

“This _looks_ like it could work,” Maria commented. “I just hope that I don’t get in anyone’s way if I start planting things here.” She reached under her jacket and pulled out a worn, orange backpack with straps that looked like they were going to fall off at any moment. She placed it on the ground next to her and looked around. “Let’s see…if I was going to make a small orchard for Berries, how would I want them arranged….”

The bushes nearby rustled, causing Maria and Sixer to both look in the direction of the sound. Something chittered on the other side of the bushes, then scrambled deeper into the woods.

“Hm.” Maria frowned. “Gnomes, maybe? Eh, I’ll look into it later — we’ll probably run into each other eventually.” She reached under her jacket again and very, _very_ carefully pulled out a long pole with a flat blade at the end of it — a hoe. “I don’t think the forest’s gonna mind if I give it a few more trees with a few more strange fruits.”

She started hacking away at the earth, breaking up the grass and its roots in an attempt to get the more fertile soil turned over. _Then_ she remembered that Sixer was standing at the edge of the clearing, watching and doing nothing.

She looked over at him. “Hey, Sixer? That backpack has a number of berries in it that I’m using as a seed crop. Could you take them out and arrange them by color or scent? The pink and sweet ones go together, and the blue with dry, the green with bitter, the red with spicy, and the yellow with sour. Some of them are going to be mixes of colors and scents — if that’s the case, you can set those aside if you don’t know where they’d go, and I’ll figure it out. Okay?”

Sixer nodded, then walked over to the backpack and knelt down next to it. He unzipped the largest pocket and started on the task as Maria continued to hack away at the dirt.

Maria knew the parameters for a Berry garden — somewhere between four and six long troughs of overturned earth, fertilizer made of crushed, fermented berries and other composing materials, and of course, the berries themselves. She’d made a garden like this on Gunsmoke, under a bio-dome to protect it from the harsh desert weather, and she was more than happy to make another one.

This kind of work gave her the opportunity to think, and that is exactly what she did.

Sixer and his family had only been with them for a few days. Less than a week, even. It was the end of August, she was back in 2014, and that meant she was going to have to keep anything about a possible future under wraps. Besides, the big problem right now was Cipher coming at the end of August _2015,_ and with Fiddleford already working on defensive weaponry, Maria figured that she could spend more time focusing on helping Sixer and his family improve their mental states and less on accidentally working the townsfolk up into a tizzy over Cipher coming back again.

She really wished that he wasn’t, and that her attempt at reaching Sixer at an earlier point in time had worked, but that wasn’t an option. Unfortunately.

Maria worked her frustration out into the dirt and dug a long trough that she could fill back in with dirt and berries. Probably long enough for five trees at most.

“Let’s see…I’ve got 67 different Berries, so if I divide that…I could do 12 rows of five and one row of six, or seven rows with most of them being ten and then one of seven.” Maria looked around, taking in how large the clearing was.

The clearing itself looked like it was large enough to have a small house and a yard. It wasn’t long enough for rows that were long enough for ten berry trees to be planted in a row, however.

“Twelve rows of five and one of six it is.”

As Maria started digging the next row, her thoughts went from what she knew of Sixer’s state to what she had just learned earlier that day — that the Dark Arms had made a deal with Cipher in exchange for him putting a bounty on her head. Her expression became more grim as she worked the dirt. She didn’t know whether they were being calculating, restless, or _desperate_ to go to the demon and ask for his help.

“Hey, Sixer?”

Sixer looked up at the question. “Yes, Guildmaster?”

Maria leaned against the hoe a little, halfway through the second row. “You said the Dark Arms made a deal with him, right? Were you there for it?”

Sixer blinked at the question, suddenly looking a little more hesitant. He nodded a little.

“Do you remember what they offered in return for the bounty on my head?”

“A favor,” Sixer replied. “They…also asked for the knowledge of our current state.”

Maria felt her core grow cold again. Her eyes widened. She swallowed visibly. “They want to pull the same thing as last time. Oh _Primus.”_

Sixer blinked.

Maria drummed her fingers against the pole of the hoe worriedly. “The Dark Arms kidnapped me and used me as a part of a plan to force a number of dimensions together. They’d destroyed their own in the process of taking it over and wanted a new one, but they didn’t just want _one_ new dimension. So they thought a World Jumper —“ She motioned to herself “—would be able to make it happen. So they caught me, and…they used me. I wasn’t able to escape until my brother knocked me over the head.”

She chuckled weakly, but the memory was no laughing matter. She had been ordered to _kill_ her brother, and it had only been when she was about to slice him in two that her defense programming had said otherwise.

At least Matthew had died of old age and not of anything else.

“I managed to undo the damage…after a while. But not before they tried to get me back.” Maria’s grip tightened on the hoe; the wood creaked under her grip. “The Continuum Shift that I set off was what fixed everything. It caused the dimensions — the ones that could be salvaged — to become reset. I had thought that would have taken the Dark Arms with it, but…apparently not. But they’re not here yet. We still have time.”

The wood cracked in Maria’s grip; the sound was enough to make Maria shift her attention and loosen her grip on the hoe. She shook her head. “We still have time. And we still have things to do.”

She went after the dirt with renewed vigor, chopping at grass and roots and breaking up the topsoil with such a fervor that she was in danger of breaking the hoe’s handle and blade. In the end, she nearly did.

“Looks like I’m going to have to get a new one!” Maria looked over the cracking wooden handle and the now-misshapen metal piece at the end. “Maybe I can talk Fiddleford into making something simple…or I could just get one on my own later.” She shrugged, then made her way across the clearing to Sixer, who was sitting next to the open backpack and neatly arranged piles of berries. There was another pile of ones that didn’t fit into the five categories Maria had given Sixer, but that was all right. The goal had been to give him something to do while they were outside.

“All right, now that the harder bit’s done, it’s time to plant these.” Maria came to a stop near Sixer, who looked up at her with that expectant expression again. “Five to a row, except for the one at the far end over there — that one’s getting six.” Maria nodded back to the last row of overturned dirt. “Are you up to helping me plant these berries?”

“If that is what you require me for, Guildmaster.”

“It will make the work go by faster.” Maria held out a hand, motioning for Sixer to take it. After a moment, he did so, and she pulled him to his feet. “You can start on this end with the red berries; I’ll take the miscellaneous ones over to the other end and work my way over in this direction. If you run out of reds, grab pink next, then yellow, green, and blue. I’ll work backwards through that order. Don’t forget to cover the berries in the dirt after you’ve dropped them in the trenches.”

Sixer nodded, then knelt down and started to gather the red berries in his arms. Maria, true to her word, grabbed the berries that didn’t fit in with any of the colors and made her way over to the far end of the clearing, where she started working her way through planting them.

“Enigma, Maranga, Rowap, Chilan, Ganlon, Leichi. That’s the first row…”

Maria stopped dropping berries long enough to cover up the six she had just dropped off, then went on to the next row.

It didn’t take her as long as it normally would have to plant the berries, since she had Sixer to help. The two of them finished off planting the yellow and green berries in the middle of the clearing.

“There we go.” Maria dusted the dirt off her hands and rested her hands on her hips. “I don’t know how long it’s going to take for them to sprout, considering that it’s August and berry plants usually don’t take to cold weather very well, but I’m looking forward to seeing if I can get them to start growing when the weather warms up. So I won’t have to worry about watering them today….”

And now the question concerned whether or not they could find something else to do before time caught up with them and they had to go in for dinner that evening.

Maria started walking around in circles, swinging her arms a bit. “What to do, what to do…” She looked at Sixer, who was watching her with an expectant expression.

And then one of his ears swiveled towards the bushes, causing Maria to stiffen.

“What is it?” Maria asked.

Sixer’s brow furrowed. “Something is—“

And that’s when a large, lumbering figure stepped through the bushes, multiple bear heads looking in all directions before they focused on Maria and Sixer.

Maria sucked in a breath. She recognized this creature, even if she’d never seen him face-to-face before.

Sixer shifted his stance slightly, but Maria held up an arm in front of him. He looked over at her with an expectant expression, and she shook her head in response.

“I think he’s just here to investigate,” Maria said. “It’s okay. I don’t consider the Multibear an enemy.”

One of the bear heads looked at her sharply at that. “You know of me? But I do not know you.”

Maria stepped forward. “I’m Maria, a World Jumper from another dimension. I brought home a Stan and a Ford who had been missing from their family this summer — Tyrone and Maple’s grunkles.”

The Multibear’s eyes lit up in recognition. “Ah, yes. Tyrone had expressed his unhappiness at his absent grunkles. It is good that you were able to return them.” He looked over at Sixer and frowned. Maria saw some of the heads’ noses twitching. “This one does not smell familiar. He smells of chaos.”

Maria winced a little. “Unfortunately, that’s what his dimension has fallen into. I think that Cipher’s the one who caused the four Gravity Fallses to merge together in the first place — it’s something similar to what I’ve…seen before….” She trailed off, frowning as a grim thought occurred to her. “Sixer, I think I’ve figured out that _favor_ that Cipher said he wanted the Dark Arms to get involved in. He used their knowledge of dimensions to get these ones merged together. Man, he really _is_ greedy for another Gravity Falls.”

Sixer’s gaze shifted away from Maria and the Multibear at that.

The Multibear took a couple paw steps forward, frowning. “Are you all right?”

Sixer didn’t answer.

“I’m afraid that Sixer isn’t quite himself,” Maria said worriedly. “His Cipher — the one that likely merged the Fallses together and destroyed his dimension — turned his family into puppets under his command. They arrived here through a rift a few days ago.”

“That dreaded crack of energy?” the Multibear said with surprise. “If he came from _that,_ then he’s a danger to—“

“Not as much as you might think,” Maria replied. She swallowed when all the Multibear’s heads looked at her. “We — that is, myself, Stanley, Sphinx, and Mizar — rescued Sixer and his family from Cipher’s control. He _is_ still arriving at the end of next summer as far as I’m aware, but he won’t be able to use the Pines in his nefarious schemes. Problem is, they…they aren’t themselves. Sixer least of all. They need time to recover and rest from everything that’s happened, but if Cipher’s coming in a _year_ …they don’t have much time.”

The Multibear looked at Maria with an expression that suggested half of the heads were thinking and the other half were interested in the upturned earth. Then he looked over at Sixer. “What say you, then?”

Sixer immediately looked at Maria. She could feel his eyes against the back of her head. She closed her eyes and sighed. “I can’t feed you words for this, Sixer, if that’s what you’re expecting me to do. He’s asking for your opinion and side of the story. Are you capable of giving him that?”

Maria didn’t hear an immediate answer. She waited a couple seconds, then opened her eyes and looked over at him.

Sixer had a blank expression on his face, but his eyes were wide as he looked at Maria with a confused expression.

Maria sighed. One of the Multibear’s heads made a confused sound.

“Come on, Sixer. You can do this.”

“Wh-what would you _have_ me say, Guildmaster?” Sixer responded. “Am I required to speak of _everything_ that happened to—“

“Primus, no!” Maria threw her hands in the air. “Your personal opinion on current events would be enough, Sixer!”

Sixer shut his mouth, blinking in surprise.

The Multibear held up a paw. “I have heard enough. _Clearly,_ events have taken place that have changed this Stanford Pines’ way of thinking drastically. When Wendy approached my cave and informed me that a disaster was going to occur and that a family involved had become mentally scarred in some capacity, I had my doubts concerning the severity of it. But now that I have seen a Stanford Pines — known for being _very_ outspoken in his beliefs and opinions — ask _another_ for what he should say, I can see that she was not exaggerating. I see what she meant in them requiring therapy. But I am not sure where she got the idea that I might be able to offer such services.”

“I think she said something about Dipper when I talked to her earlier,” Maria replied.

“Ah. Yes, he does like to speak with me whenever he becomes troubled. But this—“ The Multibear motioned to Sixer, who was looking back and forth between them and keeping his expression blank “—is another matter entirely. Is is safe to assume that this is Cipher’s work?”

Maria noted that the Multibear wasn’t terrified of Cipher in the way that the townsfolk were, and nodded. “He took their willpower from them. Sixer is tied to me, his brother Crescent is tied to Stanley, Star is tied to Sphinx, and Pine is tied to Mizar. From what I’ve seen the last few days, we’ve basically had to tell them to do things in order to get them to do them. That’s what I’ve had to do when getting Sixer up and giving him breakfast every morning.”

“Tied to? That is an interesting choice of words.”

“You didn’t see the Primus-damned _chains_ that he was wearing in the mindscape when I beat Cipher out of it,” Maria replied. “They turned into something else and pierced through my fingers. This Cipher likes being a Primus-damned _puppet master_ and I _hate_ it.”

The Multibear rumbled. Maria thought she could see a spark of sympathy there. “I see.We will do what we can in order to help them recover, if Mizar’s family has not already started that process. They do seem to have…that sort of _way_ about them.”

“I haven’t met them, but I believe you,” Maria replied.

The Multibear nodded. “I will offer my counsel if you have need of it. Considering the situation as it stands, that might be required. My suggestion — for now — would be to give him a few days to learn how to work with you. It seems to me that neither one of you are used to how the other operates yet, and being in sync might make his mental state improve more quickly.”

That…made sense. Maria nodded slowly as the gears turned in her head. She was used to working with people who had free will — Sixer obviously did _not_ have that and was used to being ordered around for every task or word that he might speak.

They needed to find a way to meet in the middle. She still felt sick to her stomach giving him orders; that feeling would most likely stay as she coaxed Sixer to express himself a little more.

“In the meantime, what exactly are you attempting to accomplish here?”

The question drew Maria out of her thoughts. “Oh, this? I’m creating a garden with berries from another dimension — they’re excellent natural medicines that I know how to work with. They probably won’t be growing for a while yet, though, since it’s near the end of summer and the weather’s gonna be too cold for newly growing things in a few months.”

The Multibear bent down and sniffed at one of the trenches. He hummed, then rose to his full height. “We shall see. They may not pay much attention to the climate, you know.”

“That is true,” Maria conceded. “And if that’s the case, I’ll probably be coming out her daily with Sixer to make sure that everything’s going smoothly.”

“You will be getting attention from the other creatures in the forest for this.”

Maria shook her head at the Multibear’s warning. “I know, and that’s fine. So long as I can get at least half of the crop each of the trees produce, the rest of the berries are free game for interested creatures. Some of the berries do make really good jams. Others are good in salsas.”

The bear made a growling noise. “The forest will keep that in mind for the first crop that is ready to be harvested. I shall leave you to your work, then.” With that, he retreated back into the trees.

Maria watched him go, then looked at Sixer, who eyed her in return with an expectant — but cautious — expression. “Come on; let’s head back to the Shack. We can start to sort out what the Multibear suggested tomorrow.”

Sixer gave a small nod. “If that’s what you intend, Guildmaster.”


	19. August 30, 2014

_What to do with Sixer?_

Maria’s brow furrowed as she gnawed on a pancake. The Multibear’s words from yesterday had settled into the back of her mind and were gnawing at her, too.

_Give him a few days to learn how to work with you._

Easier said than done. At least he didn’t look at her confusedly every time she made him eat anymore.

“What’s eatin’ ya?” Stanley asked, looking over Maria as he put more pancakes on the table. Crescent, who had come over to the house of his own accord, was gnawing on what remained of the bacon Stanley had thrown into the pan before he’d gotten started on the pancakes.

“Sixer,” Maria replied. She groaned in frustration and ran a hand through her hair.

“Ah.” Stanley gave a knowing nod. “Anythin’ specific?”

“I feel terrible every time I have to tell him to do something — or _prod_ him to do something, anyway. I’d like to be able to leave him up to his own devices, but at the same time…” She sighed loudly. “He feels like someone I have to be responsible for. And as much as I’d like to think that means I’m responsible for helping him to _rest_ and _recover_ from what’s been done, it means so much more than that and I _hate_ it.”

“Is it…uh…” Crescent looked between the two of them as Stanley and Maria looked at him. “Is it because of the whole Dark Arms thing you were goin’ on about yesterday? I mean, they said you — that you were a runaway project a’ theirs.”

Maria’s expression darkened. “I’m someone they kidnapped and trapped under mind control tech.”

Crescent’s eyes widened. “Oh.” He sounded genuinely surprised.

“Yeah.” Maria shook her head and put down the pancake she was half-way through finishing. “So…I _kinda_ get where Sixer’s coming from? Kinda? But I wasn’t stuck for that long in comparison to him, and I didn’t come out of it feeling the way that he _does,_ either. So I’m not…I don’t really know what I should do.” She looked over at Stanley. “Wendy said she was going to look around for a therapist. As good of an idea as that is…I don’t know how well that’s going to help right now.”

Crescent snorted. At a glance from Stanley, he said, “Sixer’s in a bit too deep for that. Ya gotta undo at least some things before he’d be able ta talk ta someone like _that._ Those things are usually private, right? Therapist won’t be able ta get a word outta him unless yer nearby.”

“Exactly the problem.” Maria nodded. “So I have to work out how to get him out of that state _far enough_ that therapy visits might do him some good. The problem is _how._ The Multibear suggested yesterday that we needed to get more in sync, but…”

“Yer not sure how,” Stanley finished. “Sounds like ya jus’ need ta talk to the guy. Get ta know him a bit.”

Maria looked over at Crescent, who had started frowning. “And how successful is that gonna be?”

Crescent got a look from Stanley, then responded, “He’s blocked himself off. After that demon called us — and I quote — ‘less than nothin’’ ta Sixer’s face, he just…” He shrugged. “That’s when he really stopped bein’ himself.”

Maria winced back sharply, paling. Being forced to follow someone’s orders for several centuries was one thing, but being told that they didn’t amount to anything was something else. Something she hadn’t experienced for herself.

“…you guys are worse off than I thought,” Maria said with a quiet unease. “Being forced to do things is one thing, but…that? I’ve never experienced that.” She put her head in her hands and shook her head.

“How long?” Stanley asked grimly.

“Uh…sometime after he got two tails, between catchin’ his first counterpart an’ lil’ Miss Maria over there openin’ the portal inta the Fearamid.”

Maria sighed loudly. “I _wish_ that had worked.” She looked up at Crescent and Stanley. “I really wish it had, paradox or no paradox. The sooner you guys would have gotten out of there—“

“But we didn’t,” Cresent pointed out. “No point in thinkin’ about ‘what ifs.’ Better just deal with the hand you’ve got.”

Stanley nodded in agreement, but he didn’t look too happy about it, either.

Maria made a grumbling noise of annoyance and ran a hand through her hair again. “How to turn that hand into a _winning_ hand is a problem that I’m still trying to figure out.” She sighed and took another bite of her pancake.

“I’m sure you’ll get somethin’.” Stanley walked around the table and back to the stove. He patted Maria on the back as he passed her. “With how those two boys of yours look up to ya, you’ve probably got a few tricks up yer sleeve yet.”

“I’ll see what I can do, at least.” Maria frowned, then stuffed the rest of the pancake into her mouth and chewed vigorously before swallowing. “It’s just a matter of finding things to _do_ with him that’s the problem. I’m not about to tell him to do any chores I might get; I like being able to do things while I think. Or at all, really. We’re equals here; I’m not about to treat him as someone less than that just because he’s used to it. That’s wrong.”

Crescent looked surprised for a second, but then he covered up that expression with a more neutral one. If Stanley noticed, he gave no sign, but Maria only offered him a glance before she frowned down at her empty plate. She drummed her fingers on the table in thought.

“We watered the planted berries yesterday…they won’t be growing for a bit, and could probably afford a day or so without us checking on them, and I can take care of that by myself easily enough.” Maria’s brow furrowed. “Come on, come on, think think think….”

She wasn’t going to order Sixer around just for the sake of ordering him around — neither was it something that she liked the idea of, nor was it something that was going to help him _not_ think he had to wait on her hand and foot. He’d stopped asking if he was required to make her breakfast every time she did that for him, at least, but she got the feeling that she’d have to make sure he could do that on his own soon.

Then a little flicker of thought occurred to her.

“I haven’t tested his ability with his fire yet.” Maria looked over at Crescent and Stanley. “I know he _has_ it, but how much control or how big of an energy well is something else.”

“Are you plannin’ on testin’ that in the middle of the woods?” Stanley frowned. “In _August?”_

“We’ll do it out by the lake if that makes you feel any better about it.” Maria got out of her chair. “But this is something that’s probably going to be needed to be figured out sooner rather than later. If I ask Sixer to use his firepower at any time and it goes very quickly out of control — or he does _something_ with it that would be less than wise — then I’m gonna be scrambling for a solution when I probably should have tested him sooner.”

Stanley eyed Maria with a frown. “Yer gonna need a ride out to the lake, if ya plan on bein’ out there all day. I’m not gonna go anywhere because this is my last chance fer the Shack ta be open before Labor Day weekend. I’m expectin’ _a lot_ a little kids runnin’ around fer their last chance at freedom before school comes in an’ completely throws them off. Especially since there’s that whole ‘orientation’ thing this mornin’ fer the locals.”

“Which explains why Dipper and Mabel ran off in such a hurry.” Maria looked over at the two empty places at the table. “They probably didn’t want to be late for that.”

“Nope. So me an’ Soos an’ Wendy are gonna be busy in the Shack all day, an’ Stan an’ Ford’s taken off with the kids. Karen _might_ be around, but I doubt it. Labor Day weekend means grilling accidents.”

Maria snorted. “Why am I not surprised. Vash and Knives are around here somewhere — I think Stanford said something about showing them around the woods a little bit more than how far Knives has been exploring the last few days. We might run into them by the lake later, if Sixer and I go out there to practice instead of sticking around here.”

“ _Might_ be a good idea if you went out to the lake,” Crescent said quickly. “Sixer, uh…he blew up a gas station by accident the first time he did anything.”

Maria blinked at that. “Okay. I’ll keep that in mind. He was probably putting too much energy into that initial activation.” She frowned considering. “I’ll have to work with him on that….”

“Well, work on it somewhere where the house _won’t_ catch fire,” Stanley replied. “Go on, off wit’ ya.” He made a shooing motion towards the door.

Maria laughed, then slipped out of the kitchen and out the door. As soon as she moved onto the porch, she stopped and frowned curiously.

There was a truck in the middle of the clearing, and a few men were carrying a mattress into the house. Alex was standing next to the door as they dragged it inside, then moved in after them.

Maria jogged up and slipped in after them. “These are the beds you were talking about a few days ago?”

Alex jumped when Maria spoke up from behind him; he turned and nodded. “Yes, that’s right; they just brought the last one in.” He paused. “Sixer’s awake. He’s been sitting on the couch watching them, and it’s…unnerved them a bit.”

Maria blinked, then looked past Alex. Sure enough, Sixer was sitting on the couch, blanket discarded and his tails lying on either side of him. The expression on his face was one that Maria was starting to get used to after the last few days — blank, expressionless.

She could see how it would unnerve anyone else.

“We’re gonna be heading out to a spot near the lake in a bit.” Maria stepped into the house and started to make her way to the kitchen to throw a couple slices of bread into the toaster. “Sixer’s got _some_ fire power, but I want to figure out _how much._ ”

“And you’re doing it near a body of water in the middle of one of our drier seasons,” Alex noted.

“A dunk in the lake never hurt anybody,” Maria replied as the mattress and the men dragging it disappeared upstairs. “Certainly not me.” She dropped two bread slices into the toaster and noticed that there were bacon and scrambled eggs sitting out. “Is that—“

“I made a little extra this morning,” Alex explained. “His stomach _has_ to be settled enough for it by now.”

Maria looked at Alex in surprise, then smiled a little and nodded. “I was wondering. Thanks.”

“Don’t thank me, thank my wife. She suggested that we start getting him on a more meat-based diet as soon as possible.”

Maria blinked in surprise. “She’s seen him?”

“Only when he’s been asleep.” Alex paused. “She doesn’t like the situation he’s in. Or Star and Pine.”

“I’m not surprised.” The toast popped up; Maria grabbed them and a plate, then slathered butter across the bread before getting eggs and bacon on the plate as well. A fork was quickly grabbed. “The Multibear and Crescent have both given me at least _some_ insight into what I could do in order to get him to open up a bit and adjust to how things are now, but it’s gonna take a while before I’ll start to see any improvement, I think.”

Maria paused in the doorway and frowned worriedly at Sixer, who blinked back at her and sat up a little straighter on the couch. “I just hope that we’ll see at least a little bit of improvement before Cipher swoops in next year.”

Alex nodded as Maria walked over and handed Sixer his breakfast; he blinked at it, then started eating the meal in a mechanical fashion.

“You’re actively concerned about him, and I think that’s going to work in your favor,” Alex said from the kitchen. “Just be careful you don’t coddle him too much.”

“I’ve only been in this situation for what, five, six days?” Maria looked back at him. “It’s gonna take me a bit to figure out what is pushing too far and what isn’t. Right now it’s just…we have to get used to each other first.”

Alex tilted his head slightly at that, then nodded. “So how do you plan on doing that?”

“Do things the old fashioned way.” Maria looked over at Sixer, who looked up from a half-finished plate of food. “I’m gonna head out to the lake with Sixer and figure out how much he knows about his own firepower. A little sparring can go a long way in showing who you really are.”

Sixer blinked. That blank expression was still there, but Maria thought for a moment that it looked like he was…unsure about her decision. But then that flicker was gone.

**Time Break**

“Okay, so there’s a spot on the lake out here that’s usually pretty isolated from everyone else.” Deerper looked around as he walked, ears swiveling back and forth as he went. “Since it’s almost the last day of summer, everyone’s enjoying the water at the last minute — both here and back at the public pool.”

“I’m not surprised; it’s good weather out here.” Maria breathed in, smelling the scent of the pine trees that surrounded them. “A bit colder than I’m used to, but I’ve been living on a desert planet for the last century.”

“I can’t imagine living in a place like that,” Mabelcorn piped up from behind Maria and Sixer. She pranced around to trot next to Maria. “I like trees and plants and things. Not having them sounds _terrible._ ”

“Yeah,” Deerper agreed. He paused for a second, then stepped over a root carefully before he kept going. Maria took it as a sign to watch her step and started to keep an eye out for random roots. “I-I’d be terrified of not having any places to hide. And Vash and Knives said there were giant _worm_ predators.” The cervitaur shuddered.

Maria nodded. “Yeah, the sandworms…they didn’t live in the area that we did, but I have seen them. I don’t blame you for not wanting to be near them.”

Deerper hummed nervously in agreement. One of his ears flicked up. “Mabel, there’s—“

“Yeah, the gnomes have been following us for a bit.” Mabelcorn frowned at the trees on the right and behind the group. “I think they’re curious about Grunkle Sixer.” She looked up at Sixer, unicorn tail swishing back and forth. Sixer didn’t look back at her.

Maria considered that, frowning. “Well, he’s not a Ford they remember, so I guess they would be curious about that.” She looked at Sixer, who looked back at her for a moment before moving his gaze to his feet. “How he’s acting might make them curious, too. At this rate, they may end up getting introduced to the town sooner rather than later.”

Deerper made a worried sort of noise, then came to a stop as the trees thinned out. “Here we are. We’re in a secluded area near the falls, so — so everyone else down by the lake shouldn’t see you unless you make a lot of noise.”

Maria nodded, then moved out from the trees into the clearing to have a look around herself.

The open area was large — Maria could see they would have enough room to do a few maneuvers if it came down to it. One side ended in a cliff that led over to the falls on their right, and down to the rest of the lake’s edge on the left. She had a good view of the lake from there as well — and Deerper was right; the shore was _packed_ with people trying to get in their last chance at sun and surf for the summer. The public pool probably looked the same way.

“This is great!” Maria turned and looked at Sixer as Deerper and Mabelcorn wandered away from the two of them, looking for a good place to lie down away from the two of them. “Okay, Sixer. I want you to hit me directly with your definition of a basic fire attack.”

Sixer blinked at that. His hands twitched. “Is that…” He hesitated. “…wise, Guildmaster?”

“I’ll absorb it the same way that I absorbed it before,” Maria replied. “All it’ll do for me is give me an energy boost. I’ll be okay.”

Sixer considered that, then nodded and moved into a defendable stance. He raised his hands, fingers curling in slightly and starting to resemble claws a little more —

And red-orange fire exploded from his fingertips and crawled up to his elbowed before he sent it all flying at Maria’s torso and face.

Deerper bleated loudly in response to seeing the attack.

Maria raised her arms on instinct, blocking the blow from hitting her in the face directly as her other instinct came into affect — the same instinct that had allowed her to absorb the fire Sixer had attempted to hit her with before she’d dove into his mind.

Her eyes widened sharply as the energy flowed into her systems.

“Holy mackerel!” Maria yelped, lowering her arms. “That’s — that’s your _basic_ attack, Sixer? Your _weakest_ attack?”

Sixer blinked. “Yes.”

“Sixer, that — that’s _four times_ the strength of one of my average Fire Spheres!” Maria summoned one of the little balls of flame. It sat on her palm, about half the size of her head — definitely smaller than the gigantic energy blast that Sixer had fired at her seconds ago. “Either that means you’ve got a bigger well of energy than I do, or you’ve never used less energy than that before and don’t really know how far your energy can go.” She bounced the fireball out of her hand, and it dissipated into the air.

Sixer blinked.

“Did you ever experiment with how much energy you could put into an attack? Or how little?”

Sixer blinked, then shook his head. “Cipher required destruction and chaos. He did not see any point in giving us permission to experiment with our abilities beyond what he required of us.”

Maria winced, as did Deerper and Mabelcorn, who had found a back corner of the clearing to sit in. Their backs were against a cliff face that rose up past them — part of the land that the falls dropped down from.

“…okay. So he didn’t want you using weaker attacks, I get it.” Maria shook her head, frowning. “But that said, do you feel even a little bit put off that you weren’t able to experiment with that power?”

Sixer’s head tilted slightly. “I did what was required. Why would I have ever considered experimenting if I wasn’t told to?”

Maria groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Wiped out that too, huh?” She sighed and looked at Sixer. “Well, you’re powerful, but you don’t have a complete grasp on your abilities. That basic attack — if I can call it that — didn’t have any sort of form to it. I can’t shape it into something for you. I can’t make it turn into spheres or something else — this is _your_ fire, not mine. Just like you are your own person, and not something that I can — or even _want_ — to control.”

Maria raised a hand to her chest — right over her heart — and clenched it into a fist. “I don’t know if this makes any sense to you right now, Sixer, but…your emotions and knowledge are still yours to use. You can still think on your own without requiring someone to guide you; you can still _feel_ without me guiding you. I don’t intend to take the place of what you lost in that way. I see myself as a pillar for you to lean against, not someone who can order you around just because I feel like it.”

Sixer looked confused again.

Maria sighed and dropped her hand. “Sixer, what do you think of me? And be honest — I don’t care if you say something you think I won’t like.”

Sixer stiffened in surprise at the question while Mabelcorn and Deerper exchanged looks of surprise. He looked like he hadn’t been expecting the question.

“I…I think that…” Sixer’s words stuttered as he blinked in blank confusion. “I…I think that you…you aren’t sure what you would have me do yet. Because…you haven’t had an opportunity like this before.”

Maria’s mouth flattened a little when she heard that. He was right, she didn’t know. But it wasn’t because of opportunity.

“When I look at you, I see a _responsibility_.”

Sixer blinked in confusion at Maria’s words.

“I see a responsibility that _I_ have to take on,” Maria continued. “I don’t see you as a tool to be used, Sixer. You’re not — you’re not _something_ to order around, you’re _someone_ who has fallen on hard times and needs help. I’m not going to make you do anything that I have to do because of circumstance, or because chores need to be done around the house, or anything like that. I just — I’m _not_ gonna do that. It’s not in my _nature_ to order people around like that.”

Sixer looked at her with a blank expression.

“That’s why I’m not telling you to make breakfast for anybody.” Maria shook her head. “That would be ridiculously stupid, especially since I can do that on my own.”

“Yeah!” Mabelcorn piped up in agreement. “You’re hurt, even if it isn’t a hurt we can bandage up. We’re not gonna make you guys do anything stupid, or anything that would hurt you more. That’s why Grunkle Sphinx said Star didn’t _have_ to use her powers if she didn’t feel like it!”

Sixer blinked, now starting to look a little confused again.

Maria took a few steps forward, narrowing the gap a little between herself and Sixer. “I’m not seeking world domination. I’m not seeking destruction of the local area. _I’m not Cipher._ So if you’re comparing me to him…please don’t? Because I think it’s already pretty clear from the last few days that I’m _not_ him. And I never intend to be.”

Sixer looked uncertain at that, eyes flicking away from Maria, and then back to her again. Something glimmered in his eyes for a second, but then the light faded from his eyes again. He bowed his head slightly and nodded.

“Let’s leave off testing your fire power for now; I don’t think it’d be a good idea when you’re not used to experimenting.” Maria was tempted to pat Sixer on the arm again, but held back; she didn’t want to seem patronizing. “I’ll try to figure out something else we can do in the meantime.”

_Something else that might be able to bring you out of whatever funk Cipher put you in._

Sixer nodded, but he said nothing. There was something in his gaze, however, that made Maria wonder about what was going through his head.

She decided against pressing it.


	20. August 31, 2014 (Pines Birthday, Part 1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All right guys, there's not gonna be a chapter next week because I'm gonna be away from the wi-fi, but two weeks from now I'm gonna be posting twice in order to catch up with the schedule! Just giving you guys a heads-up!

Maria woke up to the sensation of someone kicking her in the foot. She grunted and started to turn over, only for a foot to end up sitting right where her stomach was going to be in a few seconds.

She grunted and opened her eyes in an annoyed fashion before turning back over and glaring up at the figure who had been nudging her foot. “What is it, Stanley?”

“It’s the twin’s birthday.” Stanley grinned. “So the Shack’s closed because Wendy an’ Soos insisted I give ‘em the day off, Alex is pullin’ out the grill, an’ we’re gonna have a big barbecue.” He pulled a thick manilla envelope out of his suit. “And guess what just got hand-delivered in the ungodly early hours of the morning?”

Maria’s eyes widened sharply and she sat up quickly as she reached up for the envelope. Stanley held it above his head and out of her reach. “How did it get here so fast?! I thought for sure I wasn’t gonna have any of that until Halloween!”

“What makes you think that it was gonna take that long?” Stanley laughed in reply. “I’ve got connections all over the states — did you really think that I had to send this stuff very far?”

Maria rose to her feet and tried to reach up to get the envelope, but Stanley still held it a good inch or so higher than her hands could reach. “Come on! Give it! I’m gonna need that if I’m gonna get a job in town and not mooch off your cash!”

“Not until ya tell me somethin’.”

Maria frowned at Stanley, then blinked in surprise when she saw the grim look on his face.

“Did ya know that you’ve got another you living out in Iowa somewhere?”

Maria stopped reaching for the envelope, her hands falling back to her sides. “Iowa…?” She frowned. “Sounds like an inter-dimensional counterpart to me. That’s surprising — I wasn’t expecting that to happen….”

“Well, it has. Apparently. The kid’s underage and doesn’t have any kind of record, so the guys had to scramble to find somethin’ ta make you different from her and not get found because of a case of identity theft or worse.” Stanley lowered his arm and held the envelope out to Maria. “So let’s just say yer not a Carlsdale anymore. At least, not on paper.”

Maria took the envelope and nodded, frowning. “Yeah. Should have guessed that my counterpart would have the same last name as me. But Iowa? I guess something had to be a little bit different.”

She considered opening the envelope right then and there, but at the same time, she wondered if this was something that she could save for later.

“Go ahead and look it over, kid,” Stanley said. “The boys’re early risers. Went out with Stanford on a walk around the woods. Nobody’s gonna be getting up for a couple more hours yet. Might as well get familiar with those, because otherwise ya might have problems later.”

Maria nodded. “Mind if I take over the kitchen table for this?”

“Knock yerself out.”

Maria smirked, then made her way over to the kitchen and sat down at the table, before opening the envelope and getting at everything inside.

There were two plastic bags inside the envelope — one more stuffed than the other. Maria pulled out the contents of the larger one first and looked them over. “Good, they gave me all my stuff back. I would be worried if they didn’t.”

“Memories, right?” Stanley gave a knowing nod as he went over to the stove.

“Yeah. I’ve lived through so many times and so many events back home that there are some things that I’d rather not forget.” Maria pulled out a recent government-issued ID card — the last item from home she’d received, even if it was centuries old. Likely long expired by now, too. “I mean, yeah Earth probably thinks I’m dead by now, but I’m still nostalgic for it, ya know?”

“Yup. I’ve still got my old IDs.” Stanley frowned. “I think. It’s been a while since I’ve really looked for ‘em. Some of those IDs in there don’t look like they’re from Earth, though.”

“Because they’re from another planet.” Maria zipped the larger bag shut and started reaching for the other one — new fake ID, new life. “The thin metal one marks my dual-citizenship with the planet Cybertron. I’ve got old friends there all over the place.”

The second bag contained a social security number that was one digit off from the one Maria was familiar with, as well as a new driver’s license and a new last name — Carlson.

Maria frowned at the last name. “Ugh, that’s going to take some time to get used to.”

“At least they gave ya a name that’s close though, right?”

“Yeah, but remembering that it’s Carl _son_ and not Carls _dale_ is gonna be annoying.” Maria scowled at the driver’s license, then sighed and rolled her eyes. “At least my counterpart in Iowa isn’t going to get into trouble over this — I hope.”

“Sayin’ that means that she _is_ gonna end up gettin’ inta trouble over it,” Stanley pointed out. “You’ve just jinxed yerself.”

“Well, if that’s the case I hope it’s when the two of us are face to face so that I can explain what’s going on. Hopefully she won’t think that either one of us is crazy.” Maria pulled a wallet out of her jacket and stuck the new license and social security card inside. “At least now I can use this to get a bank account. And a job. And anything else that would be a good idea to have in this dimension, if I’m going to be here at least a year.”

“Yer not plannin’ on stickin’ around after that?” Stanley raised an eyebrow.

“Maybe, maybe not.” The rest of the contents of the envelope were stuffed back inside, and Maria hid it in her jacket. “It depends on…on whether or not I can get Sixer back to normal before Cipher gets here. I intend to be around for when he tries to get Weirdmageddon going here, but I want to make sure that Sixer’s willpower gets back to him. Problem is, I’m not sure how I’d be able to accomplish that. I’ve _barely_ got any idea of what’s going on in his head — I don’t know how Cipher managed to get at their willpower, much less do…whatever he did to put them in the spiritual state they’re in now.”

Stanley looked at Maria with a grim, knowing expression. He could probably guess at what was going through her head. Since he had Crescent to keep an eye on.

Maria sighed again and rose to her feet. “I’d better go check on Sixer. Do you think there’s gonna be some kind of…I dunno, big birthday party going on here later?”

“Heck if I know. The townsfolk are probably gonna come by when we start barbecuin’ later.” Stanley shrugged.

“I’ll keep that in mind. Maybe get Sixer and myself away from the clearing for a bit — I don’t know if he’s going to be able to handle interacting with people from town too well.”

“Up to you.”

Maria nodded, then went outside and across the clearing to Alex’s Shack.

She wasn’t surprised to see that Sixer was awake again. This was the third day he’d woken up on his own, so it was likely his body was starting to settle into a regular rhythm.

“Morning, Sixer,” Maria greeted cheerily. “You up for breakfast?”

Sixer shook his head, which surprised her. “Alex provided that.” He motioned to an empty plate that was sitting on the coffee table. There were crumbs from scrambled eggs sitting on the plate.

Maria blinked in surprise, then smiled a little and nodded. “I’ll have to thank him for that when I see him. Is he still in the kitchen?”

“Indeed I am.” Alex stuck his head through the doorway. “You must’ve been distracted by something since you didn’t get over here earlier. I figured that I’d get Uncle Sixer something to eat in the meantime.”

“I’m glad for that. Stanley gave me a fake ID to work with so that I can get a job in town without any problem with taxes or anything like that.” Maria smiled a little sheepishly. “I was expecting them to take longer to get here, honestly.”

“Fake ID? Are you sure you need something like that?”

“Considering that there is a version of me who already exists in _Iowa?_ Yes.” Maria nodded at Alex’s raised eyebrows. “I’m not about to pull an identity theft on her by using my data, especially when I technically don’t exist in this America’s systems.”

“…yeah, that makes sense. I wish I wasn’t as okay as I am with the idea of you taking on a fake identity to be able to live around here for a while, but it makes sense.” Alex frowned. “Did Uncle Stanley tell you about what he’s doing today?”

“The grilling thing and how it might end up attracting the attention of the town, you mean?” Maria tilted her head slightly.

“Not might. Will. If I know anything about Uncle Stanley’s grilling, he and Uncle Stanford are going to be having a field day with cooking experiments. Most people will come out for the food and the show they’re gonna get along with it. Not to mention it’s also the twins’ birthday and they’re probably going to be spoiled rotten with presents.”

Maria winced, looking worried. She felt like hitting her head against a wall for forgetting that _today, August 31,_ was Dipper’s and Mabel’s birthday. “Oh geez, I hadn’t realized. If that’s the case, then the situation might get found out sooner than I would have liked.”

Sixer shifted his position on the couch, his tails flicking. He started to frown.

“Which means that either—“

“Guildmaster, may I ask something?”

Maria cut herself off, blinking in surprise when Sixer spoke up. She looked over at him with a curious expression. “What is it, Sixer?”

Sixer looked away from Maria for a second, then refocused his gaze on her. He said slowly, “How long are you intending to keep us hidden?”

Maria blinked at the question. He was actually asking her something, and it was different from the “is that wise” question he’d asked twice so far. And it was a question that was _almost_ unprompted.

She took it as a good sign and answered his question carefully. “Well, that partially depends on you. We only rescued you guys about a week ago, Sixer. I would have liked to see you guys recover a little more mentally before letting you be exposed to the entire town at once. I don’t know how well you would be able to handle something like that.” She paused. “Why do you ask? Do you think there’s a chance you _could_ handle something like that?”

Sixer frowned and tilted his head as Alex stepped out of the kitchen, wiping his hands dry on a towel. “I am…more used to having people run from me or fight against me, Guildmaster. I am more familiar with large crowds in that form.”

“And if it’s a large group that have come to eat food and talk?”

“I have been talked at, Guildmaster.”

“But you haven’t held a conversation with someone other than….” Maria didn’t really want to say Cipher’s name. At this point, she didn’t know if he _had_ ever had a conversation after being trapped in his present state.

Sixer blinked at the question. “I met a counterpart of myself in service to another Cipher. We have…spoken. On occasion.”

That revelation made Maria’s core grow heavy in her chest. There were others — of course there were others. “Another kitsune?”

Sixer shook his head. “A bishop, Guildmaster.”

“A bishop to a demon?” Alex frowned as Maria’s face went white. He looked at her with a surprised expression. “You know about him?”

“Only by word of mouth,” Maria replied. “I’m — in my dimension, Gravity Falls is considered fictional by the people who don’t travel across dimensions. I grew up watching Stanford’s and Stanley’s summer of 2012 as a _cartoon._ My knowledge of the other timelines here came from _fanfiction_ that other fans of the show created. This Cipher-Bishop was one of the alternate timelines that didn’t get as much of a focus as the others, but I did come across a little about him.”

“But you didn’t know about—“

“No. I didn’t know about Sixer and his family until I arrived here. I never came across information like that in my dimension.” Maria sighed and shook her head. “Talk about being woefully unprepared in the area I need to be.”

“Guildmaster.”

Maria looked over at Sixer. “Yeah?”

“You…recognized my brother, when you found us.” Sixer frowned, like he was having a difficult time saying the words rather than anything else. “Is it because of who my brother’s counterparts _are?_ ”

Oh, right. That.

She hadn’t told _anyone_ about that vision yet.

Maria shook her head. “No, that’s not — I get visions of places, sometimes. And…I got a vision of the inside of what I _guess_ is the Fearamid. I saw a Stan who looks like Crescent there, and I tried to ask him about what was going on. He kept avoiding the subject and told me to get out before ‘he’ came back. Then I heard indistinct voices from somewhere and was forcefully pushed out of the vision.” She shrugged. “I didn’t see the connection it had to what I was doing in getting Stan and Ford home until I got here last week and ran into you guys.”

Sixer’s frown remained on his face. “Crescent mentioned running into a girl before we were sent here. He said she looked like a ghost and disappeared when th — when _he_ returned.” He focused more on Maria’s face. “He said he thought you were a ghost of someone who had been killed in the Fearamid.”

…what? Crescent had been—

“You’re saying she was physically—“

“Not physically,” Maria cut Alex off with a shake of her head. She frowned worriedly. “I guess…visions are more of a mental projection, then? Or a spiritual one? I never really thought of what _really_ happened when I experienced something like that. But someone _was_ able to interact with me through a vision once before — a man named Rourke, or the shade of him. That was about 980 years ago, though…”

Something occurred to her then. “Thank you for telling me, Sixer. That actually explains a few things.”

“What do you mean?” Alex frowned.

“Cipher’s presence kept me from knowing about what had happened to Sixer and his family until now. It would have kept me from being able to portal right into his dimension too — I tried to bring Stanford home that way and ended up getting blocked. Cipher _knew_ I was trying to get involved somehow.”

“Well, then why were you able to bring Uncle Stan and Uncle Ford home?” Alex responded. “They’ve got their Cipher to deal with, don’t they?”

Sixer shifted on the couch again. When Maria looked at him, he said quietly, “Some Ciphers have met abrupt ends to beings known to other Ciphers, but not known to me.”

Maria’s eyes widened. “Someone else is out there killing Ciphers besides the Pines?”

Sixer shrugged.

“So then, that means that Stan’s and Ford’s actually passed at some point before I got them home last week. That’s a relief. Huh.” Maria smiled a little at the thought and nodded to herself. “That’s really interesting, actually. It means that we’re not alone in the fight against Ciphers across the multiverse. I like that.”

Sixer’s tails twitched. The frown on his face wasn’t as prevalent, but there were still traces of it. Maria wondered if that was because he’d seemed to have a hard time with saying what he was thinking. Or just the mere _act_ of thinking.

She was going to have to nudge him more in that direction so that he could get used to being that kind of a Ford again.

“Think there’s a chance that this other person could take out the Cipher that’s _supposed_ to come at the end of the year?” Alex asked.

Maria frowned. “As much as I’d like to _hope_ for that, I’m getting the feeling that we’re not _that_ lucky.” She sighed. “As much as I’d _like_ to think that Cipher could die between now and then, the Multiverse seems to like to mess with me enough that we’re probably still gonna have a Cipher problem next August, whether we like it or not.”

Alex frowned.

“Guildmaster….” Sixer hesitated. “He made deals with other Ciphers, and with other creatures. Former humans who shed their humanity for a new form, in exchange for loyalty to him. He will not be easily killed. He is far too strong.”

Alex frowned. “What makes you—“

“He’s got a point.”

Maria turned her head at the new voice and saw Mizar standing just inside the doorway leading out to the porch. Pine was behind her, looking around with a calculating expression.

“Alcor’s told me this — demons _live_ on deals.” Mizar stepped into the house. “If their Cipher’s made a ton of them and those deals are still going, then it’s gonna be hard to take him down.”

Maria’s frown deepened into a worried expression. “That’s…going to make stopping Weirdmageddon a lot more difficult than it was the first time around.” She put her hands on her hips. “Well, _that’s_ just great! At least we have a year to think of something that could be his weakness, but at the same time he’s probably gonna be shoring up whatever he needs for when he gets here! He definitely wasn’t happy when I broke Sixer from his control.”

“We’ll come up with something,” Mizar said. “I mean, it’s gonna take a bit of thinking, but Ciphers always have a weakness. Everyone does.”

“I don’t doubt that, but it’s gonna be a matter of _finding_ that weakness — or finding something we can use that hasn’t been used already. He probably knows about the memory erasing trick already, so that’s a no-go.” Maria frowned. “Great; now I’m gonna have this stewing at the back of my head on top of everything else.”

“How about a distraction, then?” Mizar grinned in an almost sly manner that made Maria frown at her suspiciously.

“What kind of a distraction?”

“Well, we’re gonna need help getting everything together for the whole Labor Day Party thing, so do you wanna help with the grilling bit? We’ve got one, but Grunkle Journal’s not gonna go anywhere near it and I’m not gonna trust Grunkle Andrew with it, either.” Mizar rocked back and forth on her feet. “I mean, you’ve been around for a while, right? You’ve gotta have a few tricks up your sleeve that nobody else around here does. _Please?”_

Maria blinked at the question, still frowning. “Well, I…I don’t see why not, I guess. I’ve got a few things in subspace storage that I can use for that kinda thing. Give me some time to set up and whatever meat you want me to grill and I should be good to go.”

Mizar grinned widely. “This is gonna be fun. Come on, Pine! I’ll go introduce you to the Multibear in a bit — we gotta get the grill out first and make sure Alcor’s not gonna mess with it!” She turned and bounded out of the house.

“S-sure,” Pine replied quickly. He looked back at Sixer, then followed after Mizar.

Maria watched them head off with a frown and a tilt of her head. Pine seemed…different. She wasn’t sure how different, but she wondered if it had something to do with how Mizar had been treating him.

“Well, might as well go help set up and figure out what I’m gonna be doing all day.” Maria looked over at Sixer. “Come on, Sixer. Might as well get introducing you to the locals over with, if they’re gonna be coming here later.”

Sixer nodded and rose from the couch, then followed Maria outside.

It was only mid-morning and already there was some hustle and bustle going on in the clearing. Maria caught sight of Vash helping Stanley move a grill out from somewhere behind the Shack as Knives supervised with Stanford; Stanley must have woken up the two of them to give him a hand after waking up Maria. Gargrunkle was in the middle of carrying out a rather battered-looking black cauldron of a grill in his claws, and Mizar was already standing outside of her library-shack, next to Pine and a long table of ingredients.

And a large fire pit that hadn’t been there before.

Maria frowned and walked over, Sixer following behind and staying in step with her. “Did you make a deal for that?”

“What?” Mizar looked at Maria curiously.

“The fire pit. That wasn’t there yesterday.”

“Oh, that? Yeah. I figured you might want something different to make the meat a bit more smoky or something.” Mizar grinned. “The meat over there’s all store-bought, though — don’t touch the candy on the end; I’m gonna make Alcor corporeal later when people start showing up.”

“And your grunkles?” Maria moved closer to inspect the fire pit. It was lined with stone on the inside, with a spit ready to be used sitting up over the top. There was a crosswork of iron sitting nearby, clearly designed to be put over the fire pit’s large opening.

Maria could work with this.

“Grunkle Andrew might be out later. I dunno about Grunkle Journal, though. He likes his books, and he doesn’t like fire.”

“Fair enough.” The thought of meeting at least one of Mizar’s family was going to be an interesting experience. She’d caught sight of Alcor a week ago when he’d helped get Pine and Star to bed, but she hadn’t seen or heard from him since.

Which made Maria remember that he’d wanted to lay claim to one of the Henchmaniacs. She still wanted to ask him which one and why.

“Got any wood nearby? Or coal? If we’re gonna get this fire pit started, I may as well get it stoked now.” Maria looked over at Mizar and raised an eyebrow.

Mizar grinned. “Not gonna be a problem!”


	21. Pines' Birthday, Part 2

Vash was absolutely _amazed_ at how quickly the townsfolk came together, as well as how adept Stanley was at his work on the grill.

“How often does this kind of thing happen? Is it once a year or—“

“Trust me, summer is _the time_ for parties,” Stanley replied with a grin. He flipped a few hamburger patties and practically threw them onto waiting open buns held out by some of the townsfolk.

“Thanks, Mr. Mystery!” a kid said excitedly. He ran off towards one of the tables that Vash had helped set up earlier, covered in things called “ketchup” and “pickles,” among other things.

“If you’d been here in July you would’a seen how crazy things get,” Stanley added. “This is us celebratin’ the twins birthday, an it’s the last hoo-ha before all the kids get stuck in school, so everybody’s lookin’ fer an excuse ta hang out an’ not worry about work and stuff.”

“Oh! So are children homeschooled here, or does the entire community take care of that?”

“We got a school buildin’ fer kids, an’ a school buildin’ fer the teens.” Stanley gave him an odd look. “What, nobody where yer from go through school like that before?”

“Some places had something like that, I think, but for the most part….” Vash scratched his head. “Yeah, for the most part everyone was home schooled. Not a lot of people could afford putting together a proper education building.”

“Perhaps it would be wise to look into this one,” Knives said from behind the two of them as Vash put more patties on the grill.

Vash looked back at his brother. “What, because you want to see how things are run here?”

“Something like that.”

Vash could tell that Knives didn’t want to give away everything that he had planned yet, so he let the matter drop — for now. With school apparently starting in a day or so, he might have to keep Knives from doing something that could end in disaster.

He sent his brother a pointed look, which Knives simply rolled his eyes at.

“Hey.”

Vash turned at the voice and blinked when he saw a familiar face. “Hi, Wendy!”

“Hey, man.” Wendy offered a smirk as Stanley dropped a hamburger onto her plate. He looked a little disgruntled and muttered something about how she should be helping him instead of taking advantage of the food. “Stanley rope ya into this or—“

“Well, he asked for help, so I figured I’d assist.” Vash grabbed another bag of hamburger buns and put it on the card table next to the grill. Man, all the food was going fast — even with four different groups grilling! “It’s giving me a chance to meet everybody in town, anyway, so I’m really glad for that.”

“Yeah, gatherings like this are usually the best places to meet people,” Wendy agreed. “Where’s Maria, anyway?”

“She’s apparently manning a fire pit.” Knives motioned in the direction of Mizar’s home, which was only now starting to get a small crowd. If the plume of smoke rising from the front of the house was any indication, it was clear that there was _something_ happening. “She came by a couple minutes ago and informed us that she was smoking chickens.”

“Ooo, that’s gonna be good. I might have to swing by and check it out later.” Wendy paused. “Is, uh…is _he_ with her?”

“As far as I know, yes.”

Vash knew who they both were referring to. His mouth pressed into a straight line out of worry, but he didn’t say anything to add to the conversation.

Wendy nodded, looking serious. “Well, I hope she knows what she’s doing.” Her expression brightened a moment later. “Well, I’ll see you guys around then.” She turned and walked away, waving back at them loosely as she made her way to one of the condiment tables.

“This is gonna be an interestin’ day,” Stanley muttered.

“No kiddin,” spoke up a similar voice from the porch. Crescent was leaning against on of the pillars holding the roof over the porch. He gave a lazy sort of wave as a few more people passed by. “How do ya think people’re gonna take all this?”

“Not well.” Stanley’s mouth pressed into a straight line. “Not well at all.”

Vash exchanged looks with Knives, both keeping their expressions guarded. They’d spent some time talking to Maria about what it was that was going on with Sixer, and had heard about how Fiddleford had reacted to the news a few days earlier.

Worry and possibly panic when people learned about the fact that they had less than a year to prepare for a Cipher coming in wasn’t something that either one of them was looking forward to. Especially considering what Stanley and Stanford had told them about the _last_ time that Cipher had come through.

Which, taking into account all the mixed-up memories and everything else, had only been two years ago.

“Think there’s anything we could do to soften the blow?” Vash asked.

“In my experience, tryin’ ta do that only ends up makin’ everythin’ worse,” Stanley replied. He looked away from what he was doing for a moment. “Just stick aroun’ here an’ help me out; if someone comes up askin’ me about Cress over there, we’ll take care of it. Besides, it’s the kids’ birthday today; everybody’s gonna be distracted with helpin’ ‘em celebrate, not askin’ about where our new buddies came from. We’ll be fine.”

“Usually, someone says that and then—“

“That’s an interestin’ fella there, Stanley!” A skinny man with a white sash that clearly read “MAYOR” in bright red letters came up to the grill. “I don’t think I remember seeing him around before; is he new?”

Stanley looked like he’d just swallowed a piece of Tomas meat without chewing and was in the process of either waiting to choke or could feel it slowly moving down towards his stomach. “Uh…hey, Mayor Tyler. Yeah he’s — he’s pretty new. Came in around the same time these two did.” He motioned to Vash and Knives with his spatula, then quickly went to work flipping burgers.

The lid of the grill closed over the spatula handle, just missing Stanley’s fingers. “An’ we’ve already established that these two young men aren’t from around here either, correct?”

“No, we’re not.” Knives stepped forward as Vash shot him a wary look. “My name is Knives; this is my brother, Vash. Am I correct in assuming that your ‘Never Mind All That’ Act would cover the circumstances of your arrival, as well as the events that may or may not have caused us to arrive in Gravity Falls in the first place?”

Tyler blinked in surprise. “That — that —“ He quickly recovered. “That only deals with specific events that have taken place _in town_ that you have not experienced.”

“What if we’re aware of them because we come from a dimension that was able to _observe_ those events?”

Tyler stared at Knives with an incredulous expression. “Impossible.”

“You can go talk to Maria about that for confirmation.” Knives motioned towards the shack that also functioned as a library. “I’m sure that she would be more capable at filling you in on the events that have taken place here in the last week, because it covers both our arrival and the arrival of the fifth Pines family.”

Tyler looked over in the direction Knives was pointing, then looked back at Knives and nodded before he started over to the plume of smoke that was rising from the fire pit.

Stanley quickly opened the grill and pulled the hamburgers off and onto a pile on a nearby plate; they looked a bit crispier than intended, but still edible. “How mad’s she gonna make him?”

“I believe that Maria will speak things plainly, and that she has a habit of trying to present evidence gently,” Knives replied. “She will do far better than I would. Or Vash.”

Stanley snorted. “Keep an eye on ‘em. If they need help explainin’ things, ya can jump in if ya think ya need ta. Just be careful how ya mention you-know-who.”

“Got it.” Crescent stepped down from the porch and followed after Tyler at a leisurely pace.

“Are you sure _that’s_ a good idea?” Vash asked.

“Consider it extra proof. Things’ll probably be a bit bumpy, but it’s gonna be fine. Now keep helpin’ me with these burgers, will ya?”

 Vash nodded hesitantly and kept going, glancing back at Knives as he did and nodding meaningfully in the direction of the slowly gathering crowd over on Mizar’s side of the clearing. It definitely didn’t look like they were going to be handing out presents over there, either — there was a table in the middle of the clearing piled high with them already.

Knives rolled his eyes in response, then huffed and started across the clearing.

“I don’t think they’re going to handle this well,” Vash said as Knives walked over to the crowd. Others noticing the gathering commotion were starting to head over as well. “They lost to the person you beat, and now he’s coming here?”

“We’ll figure something out,” Stanley replied. “Don’t worry over it; things’ll work out.”

“…if you say so.”

Meanwhile, Knives had joined the gathering crowd right when Maria started to speak.

“Sixer and his family come from a dimension where they _lost_ to Cipher. All four of them have been through some tough times, mostly because Cipher’s been using them as puppets and walking weapons of mass destruction.”

Gasps rose from the crowd; Knives looked around at those near him at the sound. Alarm was clearly on their faces, and it looked like some were quickly growing pale. Clearly, they had not expected to hear this today of all days.

“We’ve rescued them from his control — myself, Stanley, Sphinx, and Mizar — but there’s still damage that needs to be undone. Cipher…he did something to their souls. It’s left them dependent on directions from the people who were able to rescue them. I have to tell Sixer to do things to get him to do things he might normally do on his own. It hurts to admit that.”

As expected from Maria; not even the shake in her voice was surprising. Knives knew that she disliked being used for the plans of others, especially when she had told them she had lost control of her own body more than once.

Dark Arms. Wily. Nearly to Brainiac, and a few others that she hadn’t wanted to mention. Maria had been around for a long time and seen many things; it wasn’t surprising that there were a lot of events where she had found herself trapped for one reason or another.

It explained why she had been so angered at him for using her cousin in the way he had.

“And we have another problem,” Maria continued. “Their Cipher is coming here at the end of next summer.”

If anyone else had been speaking, they fell silent at Maria’s statement.

“How?” spoke up a teenage girl. Knives didn’t see her from where he stood. “They’re not making a portal, so—“

“I got this.” That was a Stan’s voice but — no, that was Crescent. He had been sent over to see if there was anything he could do to help. “He likes usin’ the four of us as some kinda anchor or somethin’. I’m no expert on physics, but its like we break down the walls between dimensions just by brin’ here. Used ta take him a week, but after a bit it started ta be two weeks, then a month, then two months. This is the first time it’s taken a full year.”

Knives looked over the heads of the humans as Crescent looked over at Maria. So they had done this before. He had been given the impression that this was the first time — or, he didn’t know if they had any experience in this. It sounded as though they had done this plenty of times.

“It’s the first time someone’s pulled a stunt like this, too,” Crescent added. “People have tried yellin’, implorin’ — everythin’ except breakin’ an’ enterin’.”

Knives raised an eyebrow. Maria had _seriously_ been the first person who had managed to break them out of Cipher’s control? Unusual. While he was familiar with Maria doing things that caught others by surprise, this took the cake.

Surely others had thought of this solution to that family’s problem.

“Poor dears,” said a woman in the crowd.

“Stanford said he was gone for good,” spoke up a man’s voice — the mayor, Tyler. “Why—“

“The one that hounded _him_ was gone for good,” Maria corrected. “This dimension isn’t supposed to get involved in anything else involving those events. It’s just that one got greedy.”

Crescent nodded.

“This is…this is _terrible._ I — I thought we’d put that all behind us an’ now you bring _another_ one to our doorstep?! Do you realize what you’ve done?!” Tyler — Knives could see him at the front of the crowd around the fire pit now — pointed at Sixer accusingly. “You’re bringin’ the end of the world on us again!”

Sixer said nothing, instead bowing his head as Maria scrambled for a response.

“Hey! He isn’t at fault for this! He couldn’t—“

And then Sixer _interrupted_ her. “I was incapable of fighting back.”

Maria cut herself off and looked at Sixer in surprise.

“Cipher made us puppets to his will. I could do nothing but obey his commands.”

Knives blinked. This was old news to him, but the _way_ Sixer said it wasn’t.

He sounded like the humans who had been beaten down and enslaved on Gunsmoke. The ones who had accepted their fates as the ones who did all the hard labor, and received nothing in return.

The hush that fell over the crowd made him wonder if the people here were coming up with a similar conclusion.

Maria reached up and rested a hand on Sixer’s shoulder, causing him to look at her.

“You’re with me now,” Maria said seriously. “And I’m gonna do what I can to make sure you recover from this.”

Sixer blinked blankly; Knives wondered how much of that had gone in one ear and out the other. Or if he was retaining anything of Maria’s words that she might say were “encouraging.”

Maria squeezed Sixer’s shoulder — likely meant to be a reassuring gesture — then looked at the townsfolk. “Fiddleford already knows about what’s going on; I told him when he came over earlier. As far as I know, he’s making machines already. We have a _year._ We have _time_ to prepare that you didn’t have last time. I intend to help where I can, and right now I’m planning on helping Sixer and his family recover. They _need_ mental rest. What you do is up to you.”

the crowd exchanged looks at Maria’s words, and Knives decided to put in his own two cents. “I would recommend you take the time to prepare. Train so that you will be able to survive in whatever is coming until the danger is passed. If you do not have a weapon, _get one.”_

Crescent nodded. “We know the demons he’s got at his disposal; we can tell ya what ta expect an’ how ta prep.”

The townsfolk murmured, exchanging looks. Knives saw that Maria was nodding, as well as some members of the crowd.

“We’ll get through this,” Maria said. “You’ve all survived an attack like this before; you can survive it again. You know what’s coming this time. You’re in a better position now than you were then. So we use that to our advantage.”

“And how do you know this will turn out better than it did last time?” Tyler demanded.

“I don’t. But we _have_ to try.”

Maria said it with conviction, but Knives knew it was easier said than done. Vash had “tried” to stop him from eradicating the human race for a century and half; he had still nearly succeeded.

If Maria was getting involved here, the results might be nearly the same.

“We don’ have ta worry about gettin’ weapons yet,” spoke up a voice with an accent Knives didn’t recognize. “We got some birthdays ta be celebratin’ today, remember? Dipper and Mabel are turnin’ one year older! I don’ think they’d want us ta be scared or sad today, do ya?”

Knives caught sight of an old man with a rather large, floppy hat standing near the edge of the crowd. He thought he had seen Stanford speaking with him earlier…was that the ‘Fiddleford’ he had mentioned?

There were some murmurs of agreement, and the crowd dispersed. The people near Knives tried to put on happy faces, but he could tell their hearts weren’t in it.

Not with a death threat hanging over their heads.

And as Maria got Sixer to help her with clearing the steaks off the grill covering the fire pit, he could tell that she was thinking.

Whether or not that thinking was going to lead anywhere, he had the feeling he would have to wait and see.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It feels great, having all this written out ahead of you guys.
> 
> Bad thing about all this is that I have to wait for you to catch up with me. Which isn't gonna be for...several months.
> 
> Out of curiosity, has anyone ever written so far ahead in chapters that they could sit back for three months and just post a 2K-5K chapter a week and not have to write anything for that update?


	22. Late September

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a scene near the beginning of this chapter that will hint at some of the triggering abuse Sixer and his family has taken over the centuries of enslavement under Cipher's control. I go into more detail in Sixer's chapter for this week, so go there and read that if you want to know what exactly Sixer and his family suffered through.
> 
> I'm including this note here because I don't know how well people are going to react to Sixer reacting to a song by starting to take off his sweater and not looking like he is /aware/ he is taking it off. Thankfully, he doesn't get far, but...keep that in mind as you read through this chapter.

Maria managed to get into a bit of a routine after the birthday party. She woke up the same time Vash and Knives did, and while they went into town to find something to do (Vash) or study the local wildlife with Stanford (Knives), she went out with Stanley to meet up with Sphinx, Sixer, Pine, Crescent, and Star. Mizar was still in school — as she was a teenager and not technically an adult — so she’d asked Sphinx to keep an eye on both the kids so long as she was stuck at school. Considering that Star and Pine had gotten here too late to sign up for the school year and weren’t in the best of shape for it, Tyler and the police force had decided to let it slide on having the kids participate actively in that year’s activities, but had added that someone had to educate them at least a little.

So, while Crescent helped Stanley run the Mystery Shack, Sphinx took Pine and Star back to his home and ran some sort of education program with them. And Maria and Sixer made repeated trips out into the woods to keep an eye on the berries she’d planted at the end of August.

At the same time, Maria wasn’t going to let Sixer remain completely silent. She made it a point to rib him repeatedly with words, asking questions and trying to get him to say at least _something._

And it seemed to be slowly working.

“Pine is capable of accelerating the growth of plants,” Sixer said unprompted as they walked back to Stanley’s still-running Mystery Shack. “Why did you not ask Mizar to have him cause your garden to grow?”

“Because I want to see how the berry plants will grow without being magically affected,” Maria explained. “Which is gonna mean waiting until spring for them to start sprouting, probably, but they’re pretty hardy plants. At this point I’m just making sure that none of the berries end up getting dug up.” She stepped onto the porch and looked back at Sixer as she opened the door to the house. “If I don’t think they’ll grow well, _then_ I’ll ask. But I just want to wait and see for now.”

Sixer nodded, then stepped through the doorway ahead of Maria.

When Maria followed him in, she saw Crescent sitting in the old yellow armchair watching TV with a bored expression. If he had been wearing boxers and a sleeveless undershirt instead of a T-shirt and sweatpants, Maria might have almost mistaken him for his counterpart.

Crescent looked over and nodded. “Hey. You were out there for a bit.”

“Nothing wrong with sitting around and enjoying the sun a bit,” Maria replied. “Things quiet here?”

Stanley clearly wasn’t asking Crescent for help on anything at the moment, so it was likely they weren’t getting many customers. Or, they were, and Stanley figured that he and Soos were enough to handle anyone coming in.

Crescent shrugged. “Quiet enough, if ya count all the yammerin’ comin’ from out there.” He nodded towards the swinging door that led to the gift shop. “I mean, school’s been goin’ for a while now, right? You’d think that he wouldn’t be gettin’ customers.”

“I think people just like his exhibits.” Maria shrugged. “That seems to be a common theme, anyway.”

“If you say so.” Crescent sounded like he doubted it; probably because he hadn’t really seen it for himself. “Hey, uh, the Northwests stopped by earlier — not the kid, just the other two. Sounds like they’re interested in what happened to us. Stanley sent ‘em off.”

Maria saw Sixer tilt his head slightly, and made an uneasy noise. She remembered the Northwests from the cartoon, but she hadn’t run into them yet. That was probably a good thing, considering the situation. “I don’t think I’m willing to trust those two. At Weirdmageddon, Preston tried to ask Cipher if he could become one of his four horsemen.”

Crescent snorted. “And what happened?”

“According to what _I_ saw, he rearranged the positions of Preston’s facial features. I don’t know if that’s the same across the rest of the multiverse.” Maria made a disgusted face. “I haven’t met them yet, so I don’t know if they’re okay after everything that happened across all four timelines, but I’m not about to make any guesses.”

Crescent nodded. “Makes sense.” He leaned back in the armchair and sighed. “Well, there’s not much goin’ on right now, kid. If ya wanna hang back here, I’m not gonna stop ya.”

“I think I’m gonna have a poke around the museum,” Maria said. “I haven’t had a chance to really have a look around yet.”

She was curious about the sorts of exhibits that Stanley had up; the cartoon she’d seen in her home dimension had only shown a limited number of them over the course of the show.

“Good luck not gettin’ charged.”

Maria snorted at Crescent’ quip, then stepped past him quickly in order to not block Crescent’s view of the TV. Sixer followed after her a moment later.

The gift shop was just what Maria was expecting — small and full of knick-knacks and T-shirts with expensive price tags and with a rather impatient-looking Wendy behind the counter as Stanley stocked shelves.

“Hey. Mr. Pines, can I pick the playlist this time?” Wendy asked.

“You get yer homework done?” Stanley didn’t glance over as he finished adjusting a row of snow globes. Maria frowned when she noticed that — firstly — they looked more like lava lamps instead of snow globes and — second — they looked like a poor man’s _rift._

Stanley better have a good explanation for having those, considering the _last_ time something like that had been in the Shack.

“I got enough of it done,” Wendy said from behind the counter. ”So do I get to pick or not?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Stanley waved her off, then turned and blinked when he saw Maria and Sixer. “Where have you two been all day?”

“Enjoying the quiet in the woods,” Maria replied. “Crescent said you’ve been getting people come in?”

“Concerned locals, mostly. I’m surprised at ya — you haven’t gotten a job yet, like ya said ya would.” Stanley poked Maria in the chest.

Sixer started to move, reaching out a hand to push Stanley’s away. Maria held up her hand and shook her head at him, and he pulled his hand back.

“I’ve been trying, but every place I go to in town says there aren’t any open positions. So I’ve just been…trying to get Sixer to talk more, I guess.” Maria shrugged.

“Is it workin’?”

“Sometimes.” Maria looked back at Sixer, who held her gaze expectantly. “He’s not used to holding a conversation for long yet, I don’t think.”

Sixer blinked. He didn’t _quite_ look like he knew what Maria was saying, but at the same time she hoped that she was getting through to him. Somehow.

Stanley raised an eyebrow at Sixer. “Really? Cress is about as talkative as I am.”

Sixer glanced between Stanley and Maria, and she gave him a small nod. She knew what he was signaling by now — permission to _respond._ Attempting to talk with him had brought up that response, at least.

Sixer looked at Stanley and said, “He was meant to be, in order to blend in better. I was not used for my voice.”

Maria’s hopeful expression faltered as she winced; Stanley’s expression darkened into a deep-set frown.

“Well, we’re gonna be expectin’ ya ta participate in conversations from now on,” Stanley said. “Really, Sixer, it ain’t the same without ya talkin’.”

Sixer blinked. He looked confused again.

“He’s right, Sixer,” Maria spoke up. “When you feel up to it, I’d like it if you could—“

Wendy let out a triumphant shout from behind the counter as music suddenly filled the gift shop: a bass-pounding, modern melody that made Maria cut herself off and listen before she started tapping her foot to it.

But then she noticed that Sixer had stiffened up and was mechanically moving to grab the bottom of his sweater as his tails started moving in strange patterns, curling at the tips.

“Turn that music off _now!”_ Crescent barked, barreling into the gift shop. “Maria — snap him out of it!”

Sixer’s eyes had glazed over; he didn’t look like he was aware _at all_ of what was going on.

The sight made Maria more than a little uneasy.

“With what?!” Maria grabbed Sixer’s hands and pulled them away from his sweater as Wendy scrambled to turn off the music. His arms were stiff, however — it felt like Maria was pulling on something cemented into the earth, and it wasn’t going to move far.

“Put him ta sleep or somethin’,” Crescent suggested quickly. “Before he goes any further!”

Maria hesitated, but Sixer had nearly pulled his arms out of her grip and _still_ looked out of it.

She had no other choice.

“Sleep!”

Sixer froze, tails up in a fan shape behind his back. His stance wavered, and he started to fall backwards as his glazed eyes closed. Maria reacted by planting a foot as she pulled on Sixer’s arms to keep him upright, while Stanley moved to catch him before he fell. As soon as Stanley was supporting Sixer, Maria let go and watched as Sixer went fully limp.

“What’s…going on?” Wendy asked with an unnerved expression.

“That’s what I’d like to know,” Maria replied. There was an edge to her voice — concerned, worried, and agitated all at once.

Crescent looked at Stanley with a grim expression. He noticed and nodded, then dragged Sixer out of the gift shop and into the living room.

Maria quickly followed after Stanley before Crescent could, then helped him move Sixer onto the couch and lay him down on it. He looked unconscious, expression lax, but Maria moved to get a closer look all the same, just in case.

It didn’t _look_ like he was having any nightmares…for now.

“How bad is it?” Stanley asked Crescent.

“She shouldn’t hear about it until she’s 30,” Crescent replied, nodding back to Wendy.

“What?” Wendy frowned.

“I’m serious.” Crescent turned and looked at her with an intense gaze that caused her to step back.

Wendy looked over at Stanley and held up a CD disk. “Okay. So, what, is he gonna react like that to _everything_ on my playlist?”

“Depends on what you got on there.”

“ _I’d_ like to know what happened.” Maria looked over at the others and away from Sixer’s lax expression. “That didn’t look like a normal seizure, especially since it stopped as soon as he konked out.”

Maria had caught on very quickly that something was wrong, and she hadn’t been expecting it. She hadn’t asked Sixer about it, so he hadn’t told her, and that made her worried.

“Get back to the counter, Wendy,” Stanley said. “We’ll handle things from here.”

Wendy frowned, then sighed irritably and nodded before heading out of the living room.

As soon as she did, Maria turned her worried gaze to Crescent. “Please. What _was_ that?”

Crescent hesitated.

“Might as well clear the air,” Stanley said. “If he hasn’t told her yet.”

“He _hasn’t_ because he _blocked_ it,” Crescent replied.

That caused Maria to frown. Sixer had blocked something in his own mind? Prevented himself from knowing about something that was happening to him?

“Blocked?” Her brow furrowed. Maria looked over at Sixer and noticed that his tails were curling around his lower half. There was something about it that looked almost…

… _defensive._

Maria looked back at Crescent, more grim. “What did he do to him.”

**Time Break**

Maria tore through the woods at a breakneck pace, barreling down the path that Deerper had shown herself and Sixer in order to get to a quiet part of the lake.

How _dare_ Cipher. How _dare_ he take advantage of the Pines like he had.

**_How dare he._ **

Maria reached the lake and cannonballed off the cliff into the water, sinking to the bottom as the surface sizzled loudly. Her body’s temperature had been skyrocketing ever since she’d learned the truth of the matter, and she’d needed to cool off.

At the same time, she needed to let _everything_ she’d just learned hit her in the face the same way she’d hit the water.

Cipher had crossed a boundary she’d thought he would _never_ think to cross. At the same time, though, she _should_ have expected it — he was a being of _chaos,_ you weren’t _supposed_ to expect or not expect them to do things; more than likely, they were going to _end up_ doing things that would catch you by surprise.

But this…

As Maria sank to the muddy bottom of the lake, her clothes shifting to the armor that she’d shown Stan and Ford before, back on Gunsmoke when she had been showing them who she was, she hardly noticed the fact that she was producing tears.

 _They didn’t deserve this. They didn’t deserve_ any _of this. Why — oh Primus,_ why?

She covered her mouth with one hand, keeping the other wrapped around her curled up legs as she settled on a rock at the muddy bottom of the lake. It was done partially to keep herself from leaking out air, and partially to keep herself from sobbing loudly.

She still wanted to kill Cipher for doing this. She wanted to see him _end_ in such a deadly horrific way that some of these feelings could be settled and she wouldn’t be so emotionally compromised.

But at the same time, a part of her wanted to make him suffer too.

Maria wasn’t sure how long she was down there for before something started tugging at her arm. When she looked up, she blinked in surprise when she saw Tate McGucket — wearing what looked like a wetsuit and snorkeling gear and with his hair moving away from his eyes — holding a lifeline in one hand and trying to pull her up with the other.

She stood up, surprising him and causing him to drift back. At the movement, she realized that her chest was starting to burn from the lack of fresh air circulating through her system.

She needed to get back up to the surface.

Maria reached for the square battery pack on her back, and the square device unfolded into a board. She stepped on—

—and suddenly rocketed to the surface, leaving Tate behind to stare after her in surprise.

Maria burst out of the water, causing the boat that was floating nearby to be rocked by the waves that resulted. She took in a gasp of air and hovered just above the water’s surface as she started warming up again under the sunlight.

Tate broke the surface of the lake a few seconds later, staring at Maria as his wet hair flopped over his eyes again. “What kinda person are ya?”

“Someone that your dad would probably love to figure out how to remake.” Maria held out a hand, covered in a white glove made of a flexible metal. “How did you know I was down there?”

“I saw the steam go up an’ someone mentioned that someone’d jumped off the cliff.” Tate hesitated, then took Maria’s hand and let her help him out of the water and onto his boat. “I wasn’t expecting to find the girl from yesterday who probably _should_ have drowned if you were all the way down there.”

“I’m not human.”

“I can see that.” Tate inclined his head as Maria pushed her legs out from under her and sat down on the metal board keeping her over the water. “Why’d you end up down there?”

Maria’s expression became more somber. “I just…I needed to clear my head. I learned something about what happened to Sixer and the others.”

“And it made you jump in the lake?”

“I was mad. And when I get mad, I usually set things on fire. So I jumped in the lake.” Maria shrugged.

“…while that’s nice of ya to not set things on fire, ya did startle the local wildlife. And the locals.”

“I needed to clear my head,” Maria repeated. “I’m still not sure that I can think straight.”

“Well, do you wanna talk it out?”

Maria hesitated at the question. “I’m…not sure it’s something that I should talk about too openly, but…what would you do if you found out something had happened to a friend that shouldn’t have — that they didn’t deserve?”

Tate tapped his chin. “Well, that’s an easy answer. I’d find out why it was done to them and see if I could get it to stop?”

“But what if in meeting them you _did_ get it to stop, and the person who did it to him was someone who did it for their own benefit?”

“No other reason?”

Maria shook her head. “And what if it was scarring?”

“Well, I’d try and see if there was a way to help them get past that pain. Because that’s what we do.” Tate shrugged. “Does that help?”

“…yeah, but it’s easier said than done…”

“I’m sure you’ll figure somethin’ out. That seems to be what yer plannin.’” Tate went to the motor on the boat and revved it to life. “I’ve got ta get back ta my job; I wish you luck.”

Maria watched as Tate turned the boat around and headed back to the rest of the lake, then looked up at the cliff she had jumped down from.

She sighed. “Well, it’s…not like I can afford to avoid this. At least I know more about what had happened to him.”

She pushed herself up to her feet, then rose up to the cliff and stepped onto solid ground. As soon as her feet were off her hoverboard, it folded up and reattached to her back.

“Okay. I think I’ve got a few people that I should talk to.”


	23. Dealing With Demons

“Sixer?”

Sixer opened his eyes sluggishly, and his gaze met Maria’s. His gaze appeared as blank and near-emotionless as it had been for the last month or so. Maria wished she could see something in that gaze other than acceptance at his current position. She could still feel her own anger burning in her, telling her that she should go find Pyronica herself and punch the demoness in the face, but she was more concerned for Sixer’s well-being to do that.

“Are you feeling okay?” Maria asked.

Sixer blinked at the question. It took him a moment to answer. “I’m fine, Guildmaster.”

Maria didn’t believe him, but getting the feeling that was all she was going to get out of him for now, she nodded. “Crescent filled me in on some of the things that happened. You should know that none of…what happened _before,_ when you blacked out, happened this time. I knocked you out before you could go too far.”

She didn’t want to think about what Crescent had told her, and what Stanley and Stanford had weighed in on, but she had to.

Sixer’s brow furrowed. He looked a little confused, if that was possible for him anymore. “…Why?”

_Why?_

Maria blinked in surprise. “What do you mean? Sixer, I didn’t _mean_ for that to happen – it was an accident. I’m never going to take advantage of you like that. It wouldn’t be right.”

It was _never_ right. Cipher shouldn’t have let the thought cross his mind in the first place. At least, Maria felt that was the case – if there was a Cipher who was willing to take the Pines’ ability to make their own decisions, then as terrible as the thought was, he could take things farther, too.

“I mean it,” Maria added as Sixer looked at her confusedly. “I’m not taking advantage of you like that. It’s a breach of the boundaries I set up at the start – it doesn’t seem like something you would do under normal circumstances, and it’s not something _I_ would like you to do. Okay?”

Sixer’s eyes flickered. “If that’s your decision.”

Maria pressed her mouth into a straight line, then sighed. Sixer was still deferring to her judgement, not offering anything that sounded distinctly _him._

“Come on. Mizar’s outside with Pine and Star. I’m gonna…leave you with them for a bit. I’ve got to go talk to Alcor about something.”

Sixer nodded, then pushed himself up from where he was lying on the couch and rose to his feet, Maria giving him enough space so that they didn’t bump into each other. Then they moved out of the Shack.

Mizar was sitting on the porch, braiding Star’s hair. Pine was sitting next to her, watching as starlight glitter settled on Mizar’s hands. The glitter was only there for a second or two before it faded from sight.

“And then Wendy went and – hi Sixer, Maria!” Mizar looked over as Maria stepped off the porch.

Sixer lingered on the porch when Mizar greeted them. He blinked, then gave a slow nod as Maria watched him for his reaction.

“You guys mind keeping an eye on Sixer for a bit?” Maria turned her attention to Mizar. “I want to talk to your brother, Mizar.”

Mizar blinked. “Okay, sure. What about?”

“You said he called dibs on a henchmaniac? I know which one it is and I’m contesting him for the first hit.”

Sixer shot her a look. It looked like he was expecting something from Maria at any moment.

Mizar’s eyebrows rose. “ _Oh._ Well, if you want to talk to him, then he can become physical in the house without needing a deal.”

Maria nodded. That likely had something to do with how the house was inhabited by three demons that Maria _still_ hadn’t met face to face. “Okay. Sixer, I’ll be back in a bit.”

She turned and jogged towards Mizar’s Shack – the library, or called something similar to that – and bounded over the stairs and landed on the porch.

Mizar’s home was a little more…foreboding, than the other Shacks. Electric torches were on either side of the door, and they looked like they were almost actual flickering flames.

Maria chalked it up to some strange magic and knocked on the door before opening it up a crack. “Hello? It’s Maria – I’d like to talk to Alcor, if he’s in?”

There was no answer for a moment, and then the dark room on the other side of the door lit up with an eerie glow. **“Enter.”**

Maria took the Dipper-like voice as a sign she was going to get what she was looking for, and she stepped into the building and closed the door behind her.

The room she stepped into _looked_ like the living room in the other Mystery Shacks. It was a little more low lit, and the yellow armchair looked like a giant cat had taken to it, but other than that it was pretty well whole.

And Alcor was sitting on the dinosaur skull, which had been moved into the middle of the room.

Maria gave herself a moment to look him over – top hat, pointed ears, bat wings protruding from the base of his spine, and a black-and-gold suit that didn’t quite look right on a Dipper but at the same time did look right on Alcor.

Maria nodded to him. “I know you want Pyronica’s head. I want it too.”

Alcor’s gaze shifted, black-and-gold eyes brightening. **“So, you figured it out?”**

“Just now, yeah. Sixer…had an accident. Wendy tried to play something.”

**“You only found out because of that? You’re not quick on the draw, Campfire.”**

“I _didn’t think_ that Cipher would go that far,” Maria hissed in reply. “The cartoon I watched you all in when I was a kid was _for kids._ I didn’t think that Cipher would let that happen, much less let it escalate to the point that it got to.”

Alcor eyed Maria for a moment. He tilted his head slightly. **“Pyronica is a being of demonic fire, unlike you. Your flames won’t do as much damage as you would like, and her flames would only cause you damage in return. How do you expect to be able to get any hits in at all when she’s going to be able to hurt you more?”**

“I don’t _just_ have fire at my disposal, even if that’s my go-to. I’m sure I’ll be able to find _some_ way to get a hit in before you finish her off.”

**“Is that all you want from me? The chance to butt in line and punch her before letting me tear her limb from limb?”**

“ _I_ was the one who rescued Sixer.”

**“What’s your point? She caused pain to all four of them.”**

“She hurt Sixer _directly._ Stanford _told_ me she left _brands.”_

Alcor paused. He blinked. He opened his mouth, then closed it. **“So, you _do_ know everything.”**

“Not down to the details, but yeah. And it _scares_ me. I wasn’t sure how I’d be able to help him before, and I’m even _less_ sure if I can help him _now.”_ Maria’s hands clenched into fists, then relaxed as she sighed. She shook her head. “Sixer’s been broken. And I don’t know how to reverse the damage.”

Alcor looked at Maria with a guarded expression. It was hard to tell what was going through his head, and Maria wasn’t eager to know what he was thinking. Alcor may have been a Dipper, but he was also a _demon._

 **“You shouldn’t be afraid of hugging him,”** Alcor blurted.

Maria blinked in surprise. “What?”

**“I’ve seen how you hesitate. He needs the contact. Don’t be afraid to give it to him.”**

“I don’t want to appear like I’m taking advantage of him for—“

 **“We’re not talking about taking advantage of him, we’re talking about what he _needs,_ ” **Alcor replied pointedly. **“He hasn’t been hugged in centuries and he doesn’t know how to ask. You’re going to have to give him a lot of things that he doesn’t ask for. You’re doing it already.”**

It took a moment for Maria to get what Alcor meant by that. “The fact that I’ve been cooking meals, you mean?”

 **“And giving him something to do besides that. Your berries likely would not be thinking about sprouting if you didn’t have him with you.”** Alcor grinned when Maria’s eyes widened. **“It’s just that you need to do _more._ ”**

Maria blinked a couple times at that, then nodded slowly. “Okay, okay…I _think_ I can see where you’re coming from with that. At this point, though, the question is how? While Star is showing emotion, Sixer _isn’t._ And that worries me. He’s…you’ve seen him. He’s not _Ford.”_

 **“I should hope he isn’t, considering that Ford has been through trauma himself.”** Alcor’s grin dropped when Maria shot him a look. **“In all seriousness, I know what you mean. Cipher is on my hit list for that reason.”**

“He may as _well_ be on mine, considering what he’s done to them.” Maria’s fists clenched. “I’d like to feel what it’s like to punch _him_ in the eye for once.”

A dark chuckle came from the shadows. **“I _like_ this kid.”**

 **“She’s mine, Grunkle Andrew,”** Alcor replied.

 **“Doesn’t mean I can’t watch.”** A large figure emerges from the darker parts of the room – walking on all fours if only because his front arms were so big, the stone-like figure almost looked gorilla-like except for the sharp fangs that stuck out from the square jaw and what looked like a tight-fighting – but still functional – suit with matching fez.

It took Maria a moment to figure out that this was Alcor’s and Mizar’s Grunkle Stan she was looking at.

Alcor rolled his eyes, but he didn’t argue further. Instead, he turned his gaze to Maria. **“Campfire. I’d like to make a deal with you.”**

Maria blinked. That was…

“I was not expecting that. Normally, it’s people coming to _you_ for deals, isn’t it?”

 **“Normally, yes. However, I think our current goals are aligned enough that I should be the one to approach you with this.”** Alcor held his hands out to either side of him. **“We want to see the Pines get better. At the same time, you want to get a hit in on Pyronica as much as I do. I propose this: lower Sixer’s emotional barriers before the end of this year – not the year Cipher is waiting, but _this year_ – and I’ll help you find a weakness for Pyronica in return.”**

Maria stared blankly at Alcor. “Lower his…you mean his emotional core isn’t gone, it’s just _held back?_ Did Cipher tell him to do that or—“

**“He did it to himself when he thought there was no solution to their current state.”**

When Alcor looked at Maria sadly at that, Maria shut her mouth quickly as her eyes widened.

Sixer had _blocked his own emotions?_

Blocking out memories had been one thing – and considering what had happened to him, it was understandable – but keeping _himself_ from feeling was something else. A part of Maria wanted to believe that Cipher had told him to, but…

She knew the lore of Alcor’s universe. He had the same power that Cipher had, if not more so. And with that power came access to the knowledge that most people weren’t able to have off the top of their heads.

Maria met Alcor’s gaze. “How much do you know of what they’ve done?”

Alcor returned her gaze. **“Not everything. Enough.”**

That was probably as good of an answer as Maria was going to get. Or it was his way of telling her that she should talk to Sixer in order to get the answers she was looking for.

 **“So, the barrier for help in finding her weakness. Do we have a deal?”** Alcor looked at Maria expectantly.

A chance to focus on something to get Sixer to be more human _and_ find a way to get revenge on Pyronica in the same move?

Maria felt it was a fair deal.

“Deal.” Maria stuck out her hand.

Alcor grinned and grabbed her hand in return, and their hands became covered in a bright blue flame that felt neither hot nor cold. It was a strange sensation for Maria, and she almost tried to grab at the flames as Alcor pulled his hand back.

“I haven’t felt fire like that,” Maria said. “It’s _weird.”_

 **“It’s magic,”** Alcor replied. **“ _Anything_ involving magic is weird. And I wouldn’t recommend trying to absorb that – my magic is binding and hungry for souls.”**

Maria pulled her hand back. “Gotcha. Yeah, my soul wouldn’t appreciate that very much.”

 **“I thought not.”** Alcor nodded towards the door. **“Go on. You have less than four months before New Year’s. Start as soon as you’re able.”**

Maria nodded, then slipped out into the sunlight.

The sight that greeted her caught her by surprise.

Pine was sitting cross-legged on the grass, hands resting on his knees as a giant daisy with sparkling purple petals unfurled in the middle of the clearing. It looked like it was the size of a trampoline.

 _That_ was not a normal flower. But at the same time, it looked like something that could grow in some of the less-traveled parts of a jungle or the woods here in Gravity Falls.

“That looks _really_ beautiful,” Maria said as she came to a stop next to where Sixer was sitting on the porch. She was still focused on Pine. “You’ve got some real beauty in your abilities, Pine. That’s awesome.”

Pine looked over, his eyes glowing blue with an energy. That probably happened when he was focusing on his power. He looked…guarded, but at the same time it looked like he was curious about the statement.

“I’ve been giving him little challenges to work out,” Mizar said. She was sitting on one of the petals, grinning. Star was near her, under one of the petals, her hair glowing like a night sky. “I’m thinking of asking him to make that Alice in Wonderland flower garden next!”

Maria chuckled, thinking of the Disney movie and the giant flowers within it. “That’s definitely going to be an interesting challenge.” She looked over at Sixer, who was staring at the flower. “How do you feel, Sixer?”

Sixer blinked at the question. It took him a moment before he answered. “Confused.”

Maria hadn’t been expecting that sort of answer from Sixer. She sat down next to him, the wood groaning under her weight. “About what?”

There was a long pause as Sixer’s eyes moved between Maria and the flower before he answered. “Mizar said you saw me as a responsibility. That I’m not…meant…to serve you.”

Maria stiffened, her expression becoming a little more grim.

“I don’t understand how. I don’t understand why. I am someone who is mean to be controlled, who it—“

“I’m gonna stop you right there.”

Sixer looked at Maria, who frowned at him with stern concern.

_Primus, Sixer. You were never ‘meant’ to be controlled in any sense of the word._

A thought occurred to Maria then. “Sixer, how much do you remember of your life _before_ Cipher?”

Sixer tilted his head slightly.

“When you fought against him – when you were a _kid_ and you were able to _decide on your own_ what you wanted to do. Do you remember that, Sixer?”

Sixer blinked at the question. His eyes almost seemed to flicker for a moment, before he gritted his teeth abruptly and bent over. One hand went to his chest and gripped his sweater.

It took Maria a moment to realize that he was gripping the exact same place that the scar was located – the rip in his chest that she’d seen in the Mindscape.

“Grunkle Sixer!” Star rushed over as Maria put a hand on Sixer’s back worriedly. “Are you okay?”

Sixer rubbed his chest as he pulled himself back into an upright sitting position. “It will pass. I am fine.”

“ _What_ will pass?” Maria asked, worried and concerned. “All I asked was if you still remembered – does that happen if you try to?”

Sixer shook his head. “I…I remember parts of what I was like before. But I cannot remember everything. With a piece of my soul absent, there are some parts of my past that are impossible to remember.”

Star put a hand on Sixer’s knee while Maria mulled over his words.

He _could_ remember, but it _hurt_ to. So much for trying to use his memories to draw himself out more quickly.

But why?

…it took her a moment to come up with a rather grim realization.

“It’s the stubbornness, isn’t it? That’s tied to your Will?”

Sixer raised his head a little, almost looking like he was coming to something of a realization before his expression slipped back to the unfortunately familiar, subdued expression. He nodded. “I do not see a point in remembering that which is painful.” He looked away from Star and Maria, closing his eyes. “That who I was before is not who I am now. There is nothing that can be done to reverse what I am now. Why fix someone who was meant to be this why by—“

“Because if I left my fate up to the will of the multiverse, I would be much more of a mindless husk than you are now.”

Sixer’s ears flicked towards Maria while Star gasped quietly.

“Sixer, I’ve been controlled before; I know what it’s like and I _hate_ it down to my very core,” Maria said briskly. “If you think that I’m going to stand by and _let_ you be trapped in this state and _let_ you be pulled around by me in order to get you to do things that _I_ like, you have another thing coming. I _will_ find a way to return your free will to you, whether as a result of my own actions of the actions of someone else I or we happen to find. I swear it. You were _not_ meant to be like this – no one _ever is.”_

Maria paused to get more of her thoughts together, and Sixer looked at her.

“Freedom is a right that you were born with, Sixer,” Maria said. “And I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that you get that back. I _hate_ seeing you bound like this, but until I can see your willpower returned to you, it’s _my responsibility_ to see you recover in other ways from what Cipher did to you.”

And that meant finding a way to get him to show his emotions again, however long that was going to take.

Sixer blinked at her words, expression not quite as readable as she would have liked. His emotions weren’t back yet, and it was going to take some time for them to _come_ back.

After a moment, Sixer nodded.

It was a start. Maria didn’t like the fact that Sixer was so quiet and confused about everything that made a person _human,_ but it was a start.

Now to just figure out how to get him to open up the rest of the way.


	24. Plotting Ahead

Having a focus was a good thing.

 _Figuring out_ how to get Sixer’s emotional barriers down, on the other hand, was a tricky task that Maria didn’t completely know how to tackle.

“Why don’t you just tell him to lower them?” Knives asked while Maria paced back and forth in a forest clearing.  She moved up and down between the rows of Berries she’d planted – which, despite the cooling weather, were already sprouting. “You can do that, as—“

“I’m not going to forcibly alter his mental state; I’ve already put that as off-limits for myself,” Maria replied tersely. She didn’t spare a glance in Knives’ direction, still pacing around her plants. “I have to get him to lower them on his own. The question I’m wrestling with is _how_ to lower them _without_ resorting to barking orders at him.”

She stopped in front of the Oran berry plant and knelt down in front of it, inspecting the sprout. “I don’t want to treat his situation like I can fix him with the flick of a switch. That in and of itself is impossible, especially with how long they’ve been stuck. It wouldn’t be right.”

“But then…how to convince him to lower them on his own, if that’s even possible…” Vash, who was leaning against a tree at the edge of the clearing, frowned and rubbed his chin in thought. “I think you’re pushing him in that direction already.”

Maria looked over. “What do you mean?”

“Well, it’s all the stuff you’ve been doing with him over the last, what, month? Month and a half?” Vash scratched his head. “I’m still now sure how Earth time works yet.”

“It’s mid-October, so about a month and a half.” Maria frowned at Vash curiously. “Are you suggesting that…Sixer is already instinctually going in that direction?”

“Kind of? Maybe? It’s hard to tell when he’s such a wall. What do you think?” Vash looked over at Knives.

“If he is making progress, he isn’t making it quickly enough,” Knives replied flatly. “Do you expect me to believe that we will be able to have him prepared in time for this Cipher’s attack in ten and a half months from now? That is not enough time to allow him to come to terms with his state on his own. Tell him to lower the barriers.”

Maria shook her head. “No. I said I wouldn’t alter his brain chemistry in any matter pertaining to what he feels. He _has_ to do it on his own.” She rose to her feet and stepped away from the plants. “The question at this point is figuring out how to get him to open up beyond what I’ve been doing already.”

“And what have you been doing?” Knives raised an eyebrow. “I’ve been investigating the fauna in the area with Stanford, so I haven’t been watching.”

Maria frowned at him. “Well, so far it’s been a lot of trying to get him to _not_ think that he has to try and wait on me hand and foot, since I’ve been doing that for _him_ instead. I _think_ I’ve managed to get through to him that I’m not going to treat him the way Cipher did, and I’m not viewing him the way Cipher did, either. I guess…the question now is what _else_ I have to do in order to get him to drop the barrier on his own.”

Vash frowned, tilting his head. “I don’t think you should be asking us, since we’re not psychologists or anything like that. And…you didn’t study that, did you?”

Maria shook her head. “I took classes to occasionally update my knowledge of the subject, but I never took it on as a major when I decided to go back to school at any point. Right now I’m really regretting that.”

Maria went back to pacing around the outer edge of the clearing while Vash and Knives exchanged looks.

“I know what it’s like to be under someone else’s control, but not in the manner that Sixer currently is – I’m more capable of _looking back_ and remembering rather than knowing what was going on right in the moment. That’s how the tech that I ran into worked. Soul magic is something entirely different, and it’s affecting Sixer differently.” Maria ran a hand through her hair as she frowned in thought. “The issue here is that he seems to think this is how he’s _supposed_ to be, but Crescent, Pine, and Star all are not only aware that they aren't supposed to be in this state, but they also seem to be further up on the route to recovery than Sixer is.”

“Seem to,” Knives repeated.

“I am _well aware_ that Crescent, as a Stanley, is an excellent actor and disguiser of his true feelings,” Maria replied with an impatient snap. “What exactly that means for how well he _really_ is, I’m not entirely sure. And Star isn’t crying as much as she did that first day, and Pine is just subdued in his emotions – I’ve seen him working through some of them, but he isn’t showing them quite to the extent that his counterparts are. But Sixer’s still the worst off out of all of them because he _isn’t feeling anything.”_

“Arguably, he might be better off because he hasn’t felt the sadness that Star seems to have felt when they first arrived,” Knives replied.

Vash spluttered while Maria stopped pacing abruptly. “How can you _say that?!_ That man hasn’t been able to feel the joy or relief at being in a place that’s safe and as far away from that monster as he can get for now! He needs to know what peace feels like again!”

“I’m with Vash on that,” Maria agreed. “He needs to know he _can_ drop the barrier here. The problem is, I don’t know the circumstances under which it went up, and I’d like to know that.”

“So, you’re going to ask him?” Knives asked.

“No.”

Vash and Knives blinked, then exchanged looks.

“I’m going to talk to Crescent. As much of a good idea it is to talk to Sixer about what’s going on in his own head, I want an outside opinion on this before I talk to Sixer about it.” Maria’s fists were clenched at her sides. It looked like she was about ready to punch something, which, considering the situation, she more than likely was. “I want to know what he saw before I ask Sixer what his reasoning was for locking away a part of himself.”

“Well…if that’s how you feel about it,” Vash said after a moment. “Are you gonna talk to Star and Pine, too?”

“Maybe. But I was mostly thinking of Crescent because he’s Sixer’s twin brother. As different as they are, they grew up together. They know each other in and out, so Crescent probably noticed the change immediately.” Maria moved away from the plants. “And he’s likely going to be able to give me advice on the sorts of things might be able to get a reaction out of him, when I’ve pushed Sixer enough in the right direction.”

“If you _can_ get him to go in that direction,” Knives replied. “I still think you should tell him to pull the barrier down.”

“That’s still going to do more harm than good,” Vash replied. “His brain needs to come to the decision naturally; forcing him to drop it is only going to cement the idea that he’s still something that Maria can mess with. We want to make sure he knows that he’s some _one_ that we would _never_ mess with.”

“I’ve already told him that I’m not Cipher,” Maria said. “Messing with his mind like that counts as something Cipher might do. On top of the fact that it goes against the guidelines I’ve set out for myself, it’s not something that _I_ would do. So that’s not gonna happen.”

Knives raised his hands. “All right, all right. Do it your way then. But if that doesn’t work, then do it my way.”

Maria glowered at him in response. “I’m going to go find Crescent. I left Sixer back at Alex’s house with some reading material. Hopefully he doesn’t see it as something to memorize and spew facts back at me when I need to know things.” With that, she stomped out of the clearing, leaving Vash and Knives behind.

The two of them exchanged looks as Maria disappeared into the foliage, back towards the clearing.

“I do see where you are coming from with what _should_ be done for him,” Knives said after a moment. “But they have no time. Maria knows this.”

“She also knows what it’s like to be in his shoes, at least a little,” Vash replied. “You remember – she told us about the Dark Arms Event.”

“That can’t have been the only time that she was taken under.”

Vash shook his head. “She’s keeping the rest of them to herself, I think. As painful as it is to remember the World Collision, it’s probably one of her more pivotal moments.”

“More pivotal than the _first_ time she was taken under?”

“It seems like it.” Vash shrugged. “Look, I know you want to help, but there are some things they can’t handle. Change that comes too fast freaks humans out. Technically, it’s supposed to throw us off too.”

Knives rolled his eyes. He said nothing.

Vash fixed him with a look for a little bit longer, then turned his attention to the forest. “I like this place. It’s quiet, and there’s a lot more green here than there ever was on Gunsmoke. Or ever will be, probably.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m not saying anything. Just making an observation.” Vash looked back at his brother. “I haven’t had a good look around the woods yet, because I’ve been spending so much time getting to know the people. Want to show me around?”

Knives blinked at the question. “Very well. I have not gone in far.”

“That’s fine. I just want to enjoy this weather a bit more before it gets colder. And I don’t want to disturb the local wildlife too much.”

“What a coincidence that Stanford has only shown me places where the wildlife stumbles upon our work rarely,” Knives replied dryly.

Vash chuckled and rubbed the back of his head as the two left the clearing, following a dirt path that looped around the edge of the woods. “I’m sure he’ll take you deeper in later. He’s probably giving you time to get used to the climate before he does anything like introduce you to that Multibear that Maria talked about.”

“Perhaps.” Knives frowned. “There is also the possibility that he does not believe that I should ever meet these creatures.”

“What makes you say that?”

“I have seen the looks he has sent me.” Knives gave his brother a pointed look. “Have you?”

Vash blinked at the question, opened his mouth to respond, and closed it again. He remembered the look Stanford had on his face when Knives sometimes started asking questions that involved experimentation on the local flora and fauna.

“He probably has his reasons,” Vash said evasively.

Knives gave his brother a deadpan look.

“…okay, so _maybe_ he’s a little hesitant to introduce you to the local animals when they might in fact have sentience and you make it sound like you’re going to pick them apart and probably not put them back together and leave the rest of the animals not liking you all that much as a result.” Vash shrugged. “Can you blame him?”

“Sentient?” Knives frowned. “The creatures here have sentience?”

“From what I’ve heard, yeah – enough that some can communicate with humans in English, at least. I haven’t run into any in person yet – have you?”

Knives stared at Vash like his brother had lost his mind. “A bear with multiple heads can communicate in English. That is the most ridiculous—“

“Considering that you two have likely seen stranger, how is it that my intelligence is all that hard to believe?”

Vash and Knives turned sharply at the voice and stared at the large, multi-headed bear that was lying on the other side of the clearing they’d just entered.

A couple of the heads yawned as the head that had spoken tilted to one side. “Come. Sit. Let us talk.”


	25. Before Halloween

There was a week before the day of spooks and ghouls hit Gravity Falls, and already people were over-decorated for it. The Mystery Shacks were no different, considering that Stanley had a flare for scaring people.

And now that he had his brother, things were getting a lot more interesting.

Stanley grinned at Crescent as they finished setting up the animatronic xenomorph that Fiddleford and Stanford had put together. The cylindrical-headed, humanoid alien monster sat on the porch roof, peering over the awning at anyone who came up to the front door.

“Okay, so they said this thing’s gonna have an actual second mouth that’s gonna pop out at the kids when they come up to the door.” Stanley patted the animatronic’s head. “With the lights we got set under this, it _should_ really spook ‘em! An’ the haunted house attractions inside are only gonna get better from here, with all the stuff that Stanford’s got up his sleeves. Oh, man, no one’s gonna be able ta keep their heads on straight when they finish getting a tour!” He laughed loudly, then started climbing back down to the ground.

Crescent chuckled from where he stood holding the ladder, but it wasn’t as strong of a laugh as his counterpart’s.

“Come on, let’s get—“

“Hey, Crescent? Stanley?”

Stanley cut himself off and blinked when he saw Maria approaching. Crescent turned as well, looking somewhat confused.

The look of concerned worry on Maria’s face caused them both to frown.

“What’s with that look?” Stanley asked. “Somethin’ happen or—“

“No, I just – I’d like to ask Crescent about…something about Sixer.”

Crescent frowned while Maria’s eyebrows came together worriedly. “Sixer? You know you could just…ask _him_ , right?”

“I want an outside opinion before I go asking him about what I’m trying to solve,” Maria replied.

“Solve _what?”_ Stanley frowned. “If it’s somethin’ ya need a Ford’s help for, why don’t you—“

“I want to know why his emotions are sealed off.”

Stanley cut himself off as Maria looked at them both. While he looked surprised, Crescent’s expression shifted away from curiosity. He frowned, almost looking angry at first, before he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Kid, yer not gonna like the answer,” Crescent said.

“I don’t expect myself to.”

To be honest, Maria didn’t really want to think about the circumstances that caused Sixer to stop letting his emotions be known. But, she knew she’d have to understand them if she was going to be able to do anything to help reverse the problem.

Crescent glanced over at Stanley, who rolled his eyes and nodded. He motioned at Crescent to start talking.

“Well, it happened after a bounty hunter came in with another Ford; claimed that he’d seen a bounty out and wanted the reward. That’s what, uh, got the whole hunting Fords thing started. So when another Cipher came ta get the guy who got dropped off…Ford reacted or somethin,’ I guess. Cause then you know who snatched him up an’ he was warnin’ Ford against tryin’ ta do somethin,’ said we were all less than nothin’ an’ he shouldn’t be questioning orders or anythin’.”

Maria sucked in a breath sharply through her teeth, her expression paling.

Crescent saw the look and nodded. “Then he sent Ford off ta get another him an’ when he came back we threw him in a cell. I tried ta get Ford ta…well, ya know, hold on ta _somethin’_ an’ not give up, but he just…went blank.”

Crescent demonstrated by waving a hand over his face, his expression going from a worried sort of look to an expression similar to Sixer’s – emotionally blank, eyes hollow.

After a couple seconds, he blinked rapidly and shook his head, shaking off the expression. But by then, the look of horror on Maria’s face had really sunk in.

“That’s low,” Maria said. “That’s really, _really_ low. Of all the things that I was expecting – that was just—“ She covered her mouth with one hand as she mulled over Crescent’s words again. “How long ago was that?”

“…I think he had two tails?” Crescent scratched his head. “Or maybe – nah, it was two. He got three when the whole ‘invading other dimensions’ thing started, and his tail split into two when we got a visiting demon.”

“…that’s 400 years,” Maria said faintly.

 _Four hundred years_ of not allowing himself to feel _any_ emotion _whatsoever._

“That’s _insane.”_ Maria shook her head. “I kept my emotions _limited_ for an amount of time that doesn’t even come to _a quarter_ of that time, and letting everything come back was…that was _painful.”_

Crescent raised an eyebrow. “You seriously pulled the same thing that Sixer did?”

“The Dark Arms – fighting against them was a _warzone_ of multiple dimensions.” Maria ran a hand through her hair. “I couldn’t deal with – with what was going on, since they’d used me to _start_ the chaos in the first place. Not to mention they’d…they’d gotten rid of my parents. Blasted them to ash, right in front of me, and I wasn’t able to do anything to save them. I can’t travel back in time – I’ve talked to people who can, just to see.”

Maria’s hand dropped from her head as she sighed loudly. “The Continuum Shift I activated in order to reverse the Dark Arms’ damage keeps people from being able to travel back in time and see if there’s anything that can be done about my parents. The damage the Dark Arms dealt was permanent – is permanent, to me. I can’t…I can’t stop them before they get started. It’s impossible.”

She covered her face with one hand and sighed again, but the sound was shaky. She could feel her eyes watering.

“...that’s gonna have a hell of a kick when Sixer brings them back,” Maria muttered.

“Bring them _back?_ ” Stanley repeated. “What, that’s what you’re gonna be focusin’ on now?”

“I – yeah. Yeah.” Maria lowered her hand from her face. “So long as Sixer’s like this, he’s stuck, I think. I need to convince him somehow that it’s safe for him to be human, to _act_ human, to show his true thoughts and feelings about one thing or another. If I...if I _can’t,_ I don’t…I don’t know how far he’s gonna be able to get.”

The look on Crescent’s face was sympathetic – but only for a moment. He pulled it back into a frown a moment later. “You’re tackling somethin’ that’s gonna be almost impossible ta pull off, you know that. He’s not gonna pull down those barriers very easily, ‘specially if he’s used ta them bein’ up.”

“I know.” Maria nodded. “Wildfire, she – as soon as I came home, she tried to get me to relax. It…wasn’t exactly easy.”

Maria could still remember that conversation – about how she had changed from who she used to be.

“It took a whack to the head and momentary loss of all my memories to really let me get back into balance with myself, but I don’t want to do that to Sixer. Recovering those memories is…well, it’s gonna hurt, and I don’t want him to go through that hurt again. That would be stupid and harmful and – just, just no. I’ve experienced amnesia twice, it wasn’t exactly fun getting some things back.”

Crescent winced while Stanley frowned.

“Well, what are you gonna do, then?” Stanley asked. “He’s _your_ problem remember?” He nodded across the clearing to where Sixer was sitting on Alex’s porch, watching the three of them talk from a distance.

Maria frowned at the question. “That’s really the problem here. I need to convince him to let his barriers down – I don’t want to _tell_ him to let them down because that would mean altering his mind without his permission.”

“You could get it from him,” Crescent said.

“He’d basically tell me I could do whatever I want with him,” Maria replied with an irritated tone. “And I _don’t_ want to go that route. He’s not _less_ than me, he’s _equal_ to me. That’s a thought that’s been difficult to get across to him.”

Judging by the look of surprise on Crescent’s face, Maria guessed that he had a difficult time accepting that idea as well. Which, honestly, was really sad.

“At least I’ve gotten him to accept the fact that I’m not going to get him to do the things Cipher had him do, _and_ that I’m not using him as a punching bag. Among other things.” She bared her teeth in frustration and shook her head sharply. “But what would be next? And why is it I get the feeling that things are going faster than they really should be?”

“Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth,” Stanley replied. “If they’re gettin’ better faster than you think they should, blame Gravity Falls. Or somethin’ in it. I’m sure Stanford or _somebody_ has done some study about Gravity Falls that talks about the general atmosphere of the place.”

“I _hope_ that doesn’t lead me in the direction of the Unified Theory of Weirdness, because I _highly doubt_ that would be the source of it,” Maria replied pointedly. “A magnet does not a healing item from _several centuries of mental damage_ make.”

That in and of itself wouldn’t be able to make much sense.

“But I do agree – it might be something about the aura of this place that’s doing something, or maybe there’s some other factor getting involved that I’m not aware of at the moment. But if it’s giving me a _chance_ to get Sixer’s emotions back before next August, I’ll take it. But I need to keep pushing him.”

“Well, push him,” Stanley replied. “What do you think’s gonna get those emotions out in the open?”

“Maybe the question is, what made _her_ drop the barrier?” Crescent replied, looking at Stanley and nodding to Maria.

Maria blinked at the question. “What made – what, you mean besides the fact that I literally _lost my memory_ and the barrier went with that?”

“…yeah, I guess.” Crescent scratched the back of his head, frowning. “If ya didn’t get amnesia, what’d make it drop?”

Maria frowned. Then she folded her arms across her chest and rested her chin on one hand in thought. “What _would_ have made it drop…?”

It took her a moment of delving through her memories before she started coming back with murmured answers.

“The barrier didn’t drop when I got home because as soon as I got dropped there after the Shift there was trouble that was starting to brew. I managed to kick it off with the help of everyone else, but I didn’t let my barrier down then. I didn’t let it down when I found Matthew in the Marvel/DC realm either, but I think I came close…I never felt like the world was safe enough for me to slow down and grieve for what had happened before, that was the—“

Maria cut herself off and blinked. “That’s it. Sixer doesn’t feel it’s safe to drop the barrier – he doesn’t even _register_ that it is. Thinking that he’s not someone who can be treated like an equal probably plays a part in it too but – okay. Okay. I _think_ I know now what I should have been doing from be beginning.”

Maria nodded to herself, and Crescent and Stanley exchanged looks.

“Care to enlighten us?” Stanley asked.

“Hm?” Maria looked up and blinked before realization crossed her face. “Oh. Pft. I need to show him more affection than I have been. Which means I have to let my inhibitions go a little and actually _hug_ the poor guy.”

Stanley and Crescent stared at Maria with doubting expressions.

“You really think that’s gonna work,” Stanley said.

“I have to start somewhere,” Maria replied. “And I should have started a long time ago.”

“Two months does _not_ feel like a long time,” Crescent said flatly.

“Figure of speech.” Maria waved off the deadpan look. “Thanks for giving me the help. I really needed someone to talk to to figure this out, and knowing the circumstances for all this really helped, Cress.”

Crescent blinked at that. He looked…a little befuddled. “Uh…your welcome? That’s how it goes, right?”

Maria nodded at him with an encouraging grin. “I’ll leave you guys to making that haunted house, then. Might want to make sure that the xenomorph up there doesn’t list and fall off the awning.”

Stanley looked back and bit back a curse when he saw that the inactive animatronic was leaning to one side. “Of all the – come on!” He ran back towards the ladder, Crescent on his heels.

Maria watched the two of them run to catch the xenomorph replica, then turned and made her way over to Sixer. His ears perked up as she approached, like someone standing at attention.

Her smile faded a little when she saw that. Maria really wished that Sixer wouldn’t _do_ that when he saw her get close.

She quickened her pace slightly and sat down on the porch next to Sixer. His tails shifted away from her slightly in response – likely instinctual, so that she wouldn’t end up sitting on them by accident.

“Hey.” Maria looked at Sixer with a gentle smile, which he didn’t return. He only blinked back with what looked like muted confusion. “You doing okay, Sixer?”

He blinked at the question, and Maria – against her cautious judgement – reached over and put a hand against his back. Sixer stiffened a little under her touch in response, but his expression didn’t glaze over. “I’m…I’m fine, Guildmaster.”

That answer was one he’d given her every single time she’d asked him that, but the hesitation – that was new.

Maria frowned. “Got something on your mind, or is there something going on?”

Sixer blinked at the question, then shook his head. “I don’t understand what is happening here.” He nodded over to the decoration project that Crescent and Stanley were undertaking. Stanford stepped out onto the porch as the two got the xenomorph finally settled into place on the roof. He looked around before stepping off and turning around to look up at the animatronic.

“You mean, why they’re decorating?”

Sixer nodded.

Maria stared at him. “Did you forget about Halloween, Sixer?”

“Hallow-ween?” Sixer tried out the word, frowning.

“It’s a celebration that takes place on the last day of October. The idea came from a tradition in other countries that this is when the spirits of the dead are most likely to roam among the living, and so people had to scare them off. It’s turned into an easy day for people to scare each other and get candy from their neighbors.” Maria pulled her hand away from Sixer’s back and leaned against one of the wooden supports on the porch. “Gravity Falls has an extra day to celebrate it in the middle of summer, but Summerween has its own brand of traditions that the people here have started.”

The Candy Monster that Soos had eaten back in 2012 had been a problem then, but Maria didn’t know if that was going to be a problem next June, when Summerween came around again. She decided against asking about it now.

Sixer nodded a little, but said nothing. His gaze moved away from the animatronic as Stanford raised a remote and pointed it at the monstrous thing on the porch roof. “Guildmaster, will we be required to participate in this?”

“If you don’t feel up to it, no.” Maria shook her head. “Not everyone gets into the Halloween spirit, so to speak, even if it’s a pretty big thing around here – likely because of all the stuff that happens in Gravity Falls already.” She chuckled. “We’ll probably just hide in one of the Shacks if you’re not up to dealing with people on the 31st. It’s okay.”

Sixer looked at Maria with that blank expression of his. For a second, Maria _almost_ thought he was going to show an emotion, but when he looked away from her and down at his feet instead, she got the feeling that she was just fooling herself.

She wanted him to heal, but she knew he wouldn’t be able to heal _that_ quickly. Unfortunately.

“I’ll leave it up to you, but I’m probably not gonna be going out trick-or-treating to get candy or anything like that,” Maria added. “So, really, it’s either handing out candy to kids who come up or just not interact with them and wait in one of the Shacks until the night’s over. If that makes any sense.”

Sixer’s gaze moved around the clearing, Maria’s eyes following as they looked at each of the Shacks in turn. Stanford, Stanley, and Crescent were going all out with making a haunted house, but Alex’s Shack was mostly untouched other than a few cobwebs and hanging spiders and bats. The Monster Falls Shack hadn’t been altered too much, although the addition of gargoyles sitting on the edge of the porch roof was an interesting choice.

And as for Mizar’s home…well, it was starting to look like an abandoned library more than anything else. Maria had to wonder what _that_ looked like inside.

They sat quietly like that for a little while before Sixer said anything.

“I…”

Maria turned her gaze away from Stanley and Stanford as they high-fived under the moving animatronic xenomorph. “Hm?”

Sixer blinked at the sound, then turned his gaze a little to look at Maria. “It would be…acceptable, if I said I did not feel ‘up to’ any task pertaining to this event?”

Maria blinked in surprise. Was Sixer _actually_ thinking?

“Yeah, that won’t be a problem.” Maria scooted back over and put a hand on Sixer’s back again. He didn’t stiffen up this time – likely because he saw it coming – and Maria took that as an encouraging sign.

“Do you mind if I ask why you’re not feeling up to anything involving Halloween?”

Sixer blinked at the question, then shook his head. “I…understand very little about it. It is not likely that I will be capable of assisting at the capacity that would be required.”

Maria’s encouraged expression faded a little. Ah; Sixer was still thinking about how he could be useful. She really wished that he wouldn’t.

“Well, if that’s how you feel about it, that’s all right,” Maria replied. Her core warmed up for a moment, and the heat slipped out and crawled through her arm before being released through the hand on Sixer’s back.

The warmth caused him to shift a little, blinking in surprise.

“It’s been a while since I’ve participated in Halloween myself, so I’m gonna be mostly watching and handing out candy,” Maria added. “I bet Alex would be okay with helping out here, rather than being in any of the other Shacks. I mean, the decorations are cool and all but they’d probably expect us to get involved in the ‘scaring kids half to death’ routine and I’m not feeling up for that.”

As much as scaring kids was fun – to a point – Maria had other things on her mind to worry about right now.

Besides, what scared _her_ in the past might not be something kids wanted to see.

Sixer nodded quietly, not offering a verbal response. Something told Maria this was the end of that conversation.

“Come on.” Maria patted Sixer lightly on the back, then removed her hand and pushed herself to her feet. “Let’s head in and see if Alex is okay with me helping him doing the handing out the candy thing.”


	26. Halloween

**Chapter 26 -- Halloween**

To say that the day of Halloween was “interesting” was putting it lightly. As soon as school was let out, the clearing was _packed_ with kids, teenagers, and parents, going from house to house in order to collect candy and – if they thought they could handle it – enter Stanford and Stanley’s Shack of Horrors.

Maria watched from the porch as another group of kids was sent scrambling out the door. She snorted and shook her head. “Stanford and Stanley went all out. I don’t think I’ve ever really seen anything like that from them.”

“Shermie said that those two could be troublemakers when they wanted to be.” A woman with circles under her eyes stepped out of the house, carrying a large bowl of candy in her hands. “I wasn’t expecting _this_ to be the result, though.”

“You were here for Summerween though, right Mrs. Pines?” Maria raised an eyebrow. “They didn’t do anything like this then?”

“Karen is fine.” Karen shook her head. “And as for Summerween…no, they didn’t do anything like this. They said something about a ‘Summerween Trickster’ and not wanting to usurp his place as the scariest thing on Summerween.” She frowned at the Shack of Horrors. “Doesn’t look like there’s anything _remotely_ like that during Halloween.”

“I should hope not,” Maria replied. “I remember hearing something about _zombies_ being a problem, but I haven’t seen any around here in the last week, so I think that’s a problem that isn’t going to be worried over anymore. Especially considering what Dipper did on _that_ particular summer.”

Karen raised an eyebrow. “Are you talking about Stanford’s nephew or—“

“Dippers in general,” Maria amended. “At least, I think. I’m not sure if Tyrone did anything like that. _Was_ there ever a moment where he was trying to impress people by summoning a horde of zombies in order to prove to them that magic is real?”

The look on Karen’s face was more than enough of an answer for Maria.

“Yeah. That’s common. Unfortunately.”

Karen stared at Maria, then shook her head as a group of kids dressed up as pirates approached the porch, carrying large, heavy pillowcases. “Having you around with your talk of cartoons and alternate dimensions is a bit mind-boggling.”

Maria chuckled somewhat uneasily. “Yeah, it is a bit crazy. I hope I don’t come off as knowing too much.”

“Considering how strange this town is already, I doubt that you will at this point,” Karen replied. “You’ve been here two months.”

“Yeah.” Maria rubbed the back of her head. “I just hope I haven’t come off like I know everything. I’m…I’m not like the monster that _claims_ to know everything.”

Karen’s expression shifted. “I can see how that might be a problem. But I think people can tell the difference, especially considering that you’re helping a version of one of my uncles-in-law.”

Maria’s gaze moved back to the open door leading into the Shack. She could just barely see Sixer sitting on the couch, watching the two of them with an unreadable expression. Although, something about the look on his face made Maria wonder if he was starting to lose his internal barriers.

Because now Sixer was just looking more…tired.

“I just wish I knew more about what I was doing,” Maria replied. “Looking things up online is one thing, but I don’t have the _training_ for it.”

“Well, you’re doing quite well so far.” Karen paused, thinking. “I think Mizar said something about doing something that might help.” She looked worried at that.

“…something?” Maria repeated. “Hm.”

If it was Mizar, that probably meant she talked to her brother.

But what would _that_ mean? What sort of deal did she…

“Maybe try not to think about it for a little while,” Karen suggested. “You need to come at this with a fresh mind.”

“…maybe, but we don’t have as much time as we _need._ You can’t _solve_ this kind of damage in a single year.” Maria sighed. “I just hope that I can get at least some of the damage undone, but…I dunno.”

“You have us to help if you need it,” Karen said. “Don’t worry. We will get them the help they need.”

**Change in POV**

Stanley cackled as the next batch of kids was sent running from the Shack of Horrors. “Ooh, this is _great!_ I should do something like this every year!”

“I’m glad that you were open to my idea,” Stanford replied. “It’s not every day that I get to use my knowledge of the multiverse to my advantage like this.”

“I should get ya ta make some things later for the Shack’s exhibits.” Stanley elbowed his brother, grinning. “This is _far_ too much fun to just let ya sit on the sidelines!” He laughed, then looked a bit more serious. “Just, uh, don’t make the stuff _too_ real. If we cross over into the Uncanny Valley we’re not gonna get all that many customers.”

“Don’t worry, Stanley. The kinds of material I’d require to truly replicate some of these creatures is impossible to find in our area, much less on the planet in this dimension.” Stanford patted his brother on the back reassuringly. “We’re going to be all right. I just need to keep Fiddleford in check and make sure that he doesn’t add anything dangerous to the animatronics. I think this town is going to have enough death rays and plasma swords from the armory he’s building up for next summer.”

The conversation taking a darker turn, Stanley’s expression shifted to match the mood. “Think we’re gonna be ready?”

“I don’t know.” Stanford’s expression was grim. “Puppeteer is a hard Cipher to crack, and considering that _all_ Ciphers are, that’s saying something.”

“That his name?”

“It’s a nickname.” Crescent came over, carrying an empty bowl that had once held candy. “Fords’ve got a system for it or somethin’. Sixer did, too, but we couldn’t call ours anythin’ but…well, ya know.”

Stanley raised an eyebrow at that. “Huh. Really?”

“We have to have a way to tell them apart,” Stanford said. “I’ve been cut off from the main Council of portal-displaced counterparts, but I intend to have that name submitted for consideration as soon as possible.”

“There’s a _council_ of you people?”

“How else do you think we came up with a _system_ for calling our counterparts and Ciphers anything?” Stanford tapped his chin in thought. “Which…we’ll have to come up with something different for Sixer now. Calling him ‘Cipher’s Pet’ doesn’t exactly fit now that we know the true circumstances of his imprisonment.”

Crescent glowered; Stanley mimicked his expression. “Really, Stanford?”

“I’d like to see you come up with something else when Puppeteer is called Bounty Hunter and everyone instantly thought of the classic villain in his chair petting a cat,” Stanford replied. “We didn’t know the circumstances, just the results. But now _we_ know the true situation.”

“Yeah, but tellin’ _them_ that isn’t gonna be easy,” Crescent replied. “You Fords’re stubborn as hell. Do ya _really_ think ya can just send in a report and just let that be the end of it?”

“I don’t expect it to be. It’s why I haven’t asked Maria to _locate_ the dimensional hub yet – getting my counterparts involved in this may make things _worse,_ not better, and I don’t think we’re ready to deal with the chaos that will come when my counterparts start an investigation into Sixer’s previous whereabouts. Because that is _going_ to happen when I send in anything regarding a change in his situation or the knowledge that we now have.”

Stanford nodded across the clearing to where Maria was talking to Karen. He knew the nurse was going to have her hands full tomorrow in the hospital with calls for children overeating candy, or possible cases of food poisoning, among other things. “With any luck, the moment that the year is up and Cipher invades, I’ll have sent it in. The council being what it is, they should be kept debating over it until long after Puppeteer is gone, and then they’ll send someone to investigate the situation. Depending on what happens…I hope that we can solve the problem of your souls by then.”

Crescent grunted in reply. “And if ya can’t? All we know is that he ripped out a bit; we dunno if he did anything with it or—“

“We’ll figure something out,” Stanford replied. He fixed his gaze more directly on Crescent. “Just because it looks like nothing can be changed from your perspective doesn’t mean that’s the truth.”

“Yeah. Why else do ya think that we were able ta take out our demon just because I suggested somethin’?” Stanley grinned. “Stanford didn’t see a solution – I did.”

“One that I didn’t want to take,” Stanford replied. “But we had no other options.”

“Yeah, yeah. What’s done is done; our problem’s gone, an’ that’s the end of it.” Stanley dropped an arm around Stanford’s shoulders and grinned. “Now we got other Ciphers to tear apart.”

Stanford nodded in agreement.

Crescent stared at the two of them with a befuddled expression.

“…you two are really serious about this.”

Stanley nodded, determined. “You shouldn’t hafta live like this. An’ I’m gonna see to it yer not chained down ever again.”

Crescent went wide-eyed. He nearly dropped the bowl in his hands, but then quickly caught it again. “Can’t…can’t say I was expectin’ that.”

“Well, start expectin’ it,” Stanley replied. “We didn’t pull ya outta there just cause we needed extra hands – look around, we got more’n enough a’ em!” He motioned to the Shacks that sat in the clearing. “Come on – let’s get more candy for those kids who survive the Shack of Horrors. I got some big candy bars hidin’ in the kitchen.”

**Change in POV**

Alcor hovered in front of the library, Mizar sitting on the porch in front of him while she handed out handfuls of candy from a bowl that was nearly bottomless. **“Halloween is quieter than I was expecting. I’m not sensing any deals being made, which is odd.”**

“Is it?” Mizar looked back at him. “Hmm. Does that mean Grunkle Journal and Grunkle Andrew are feeling the same thing?”

**“They should be. I’ve been starting to get a name for myself, but all of a sudden everything’s gone silent. I don’t like it. It means something else is happening and I would rather it didn’t.”**

“So look.”

**“I’ve tried. Something is blocking my vision.”**

Mizar blinked, then turned and stared at her brother. “Something is blocking you from being able to see everything.”

Alcor nodded, looking grim.

“…I don’t like the sound of that.”

**“I don’t, either. It means _he_ is starting to prepare for the inevitable – his inevitable.”**

“Well, it’s _not_ gonna be the inevitable – not if _we_ have anything to say about it.” Mizar nodded determinedly. “Think Grunkle Journal knows already?”

 **“If he doesn’t, he’s not gonna be happy when he learns about it. I’d better make sure he does before he curses everyone in the clearing to not be able to read for a week.”** Alcor vanished from sight.

Mizar hummed to herself and handed out more candy to the kids who came over. “Hey Candy, Grenda. You guys still up for that creepy movie marathon later?”

“Oh yes.” Candy nodded. “Will Star be there too?”

“I’ll have to see. Grunkle Sphinx is really attached to her, and it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to have her watch anything _too_ creepy.” Mizar shrugged as she dropped a giant peppermint into Candy’s bag, then a box of German chocolates into Grenda’s. “Or we could plan another movie night later and watch some better stuff.”

Her two friends nodded.

“She’s probably gone without boy-crazy stuff for _years,”_ Grenda said. “Let’s plan for that!”

“Sounds good.” Mizar grinned. “See you guys in a bit!”

**Change in POV**

“Halloween is a strange holiday,” Vash commented. He looked down from the roof of Alex’s home, watching the people running around in costume below them.

“It’s not a holiday,” Knives corrected. “If it was, it is likely that the children would have gotten off school today. But they did not.”

“They got a half-day; that’s just as good,” Vash replied. He leaned back against the roof, smiling. “I like it. Dressing up in costume and getting candy for it – that’s a _great_ idea. I wish that we’d been able to do that back on Gunsmoke.”

Knives said nothing in reply to that.

“Maybe, when we go back, we can see if we can get the tradition started if the Earth culture hasn’t started doing that already. I think our sisters would like to be able to see some people dressed up like them or us for Halloween.”

“I doubt that the parents would allow their children to take on the appearance of naked women with wings,” Knives replied flatly.

“Oh come on, Knives, don’t take all the fun out of it!”


	27. Early November

After Halloween, Maria started putting her words to action.

Mostly by patting Sixer on the back and having one hand giving him some form of friendly, calming contact during the day. Well, she _hoped_ that it was calming, at least – Sixer didn’t really offer any physical responses to her other than slowly becoming used to the fact that she would occasionally rest a hand on his shoulder, or an arm, or somewhere in the middle of his back for a couple seconds.

She didn’t spend _all_ of her time doing that, however. As nice as it was to be able to let Sixer know that she cared about him in more ways than just making him breakfast, she had other things that she could do with her days.

“Hey, Maria?”

“Hm?” Maria turned at the sound of the voice. She was at her berry orchard, looking over the twigs that had sprouted from the berries. As it was November, the leaves had dropped and left a few skinny twigs behind to wait out the winter, depending on how cold things were going to get.

Maria blinked when she saw Deerper standing at the edge of the clearing, occasionally glancing warily over at Sixer as he leaned against a tree a short distance away. She set the container of fertilizer aside. “What is it, Deerper?”

The cervitaur fidgeted, adjusting his grip on a book in his hands. “I was wondering…how’d you get those fire powers you showed us before? When you were….” His gaze moved to Sixer as he trailed off.

It took a moment for Maria to realize that Deerper was referring to the day when she’d tested Sixer’s abilities. “You want to know about my magic? Why do you ask?”

“W-well—“ Deerper cut himself off and rubbed the back of his head. “Well, Dipper and I were going over our notes and…and you never really mentioned if you were born with them or anything like that. And you _did_ apparently say that you and Grunkle Sixer were turned into the same creature at some point, so…did you get them then?”

Maria blinked. “Deerper, I was expecting these questions _months_ ago, when I first demonstrated my ability when testing Sixer’s. Why are you only asking them _now?”_

“…things have calmed down a little?”

The hesitant response caused Maria to blink blankly, then sigh and shake her head. “All right. I don’t see anything wrong with telling you.” She patted the grass next to her, and Deerper came over and sat down, folding his deer legs underneath himself. As soon as he settled, he opened his book and pulled a pen out of his vest before looking at Maria expectantly.

“The funny thing is, I _was_ born with them,” Maria began. “But it isn’t natural – you can blame my _dad_ for getting the whole thing started. He got himself dunked in some weird gunk completely by accident. He came out of it just fine, but when he and Mom started having kids?” She chuckled lightly. “Surprised Mom and Dad to no end when they saw me practicing in the backyard near our pool if I needed to dunk myself.”

Deerper looked curious. “Gunk? What kind?”

Maria glanced at Sixer and noticed that he was looking at her with an odd expression. Like he was trying to figure her out.

“…well, I don’t know all the details, but I know it was stuff that wasn’t in my dimension. At all. The whole traveling across dimensions thing _I_ do didn’t start with me, either.”

“It didn’t?” Deerper’s ears perked up. “You mean your mom and dad did it too?”

Maria nodded as Sixer’s ears perked slightly. Was he curious? She hoped so.

“Mom and Dad couldn’t make portals, though. They got sucked into vortexes in TVs and things like that, according to what they told me and my siblings. They first found out about how video games and cartoons were real in the multiverse that way.”

“Real? You mean – Ducktective could be a real dimension?” Deerper’s eyes were wide.

“Exactly. And the place where my dad got dunked into gunk – called mako by the locals – was a part of a video game series we call _Final Fantasy._ ” Maria looked over at Sixer. “Have you heard of something called that? Mako?”

Sixer blinked at the question, looking a little surprised at the question. He tilted his head slightly, then shook his head. “I have not come into contact with a substance of that designation, Guildmaster.”

“I haven’t run into it, either. All I know is that it’s weird, it’s basically pure magic and life force, and if you come into contact with it there’s a higher chance that you’ll die of mako poisoning than come out stronger for it. And all that happened with _Dad_ is that he came out _fine_ and ended up giving his kids magic powers.” Maria shrugged. “The abilities my brothers had were diluted the further down the bloodline it went, but the effects were still there. Matthew’s Aura Sense, Collin’s electro-kinetics – by the time we left for Gunsmoke, their however many great-grandkids had the barest shadow of even a trace of those abilities.”

“Whoa…” Deerper’s eyes were wide. “So, you guys had different abilities depending on, what, just random occurrence?”

“Probably.” Maria shrugged. “I’m happy with mine, though – I don’t know what would have happened if I’d ended up with hydrokinetics, like my sister, or something else entirely. My powers have served me well.”

Deerper looked at Maria with a wide-eyed expression, then nodded and started writing quickly. “Th-this opens up a lot more avenues than I or the others were thinking! I-I thought you came into contact with something that set it off o-or something.”

“It’s all traced back to the dad,” Maria replied. “The Reploid thing was _my_ doing, indirectly, but the magic was something else.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll go ask Grunkle Stanford if _he’s_ ever heard of mako – maybe we can get our hands on some and study it!” Deerper rose to his feet. “Thanks, Maria!”

“No prob. If you ever want to hear more stories and stuff like that, make sure to ask me.”

Maria waved at Deerper as he bounded out of the clearing, then started to go back to fertilizing the berry plants. She’d been wondering when questions about herself would start coming up – it was likely that, because of how little time they’d had together outside of events and keeping an eye on Sixer and his family, it didn’t leave very much room for conversations about herself, Vash, and Knives.

She should really check in with them later, and maybe talk to the other families and the people in town a bit. While they were _familiar_ with her, they didn’t _know_ her like Vash and Knives did.

Something crunched against the grass, and Maria looked up. She blinked when she saw Sixer moving away from the tree he had been leaning against, and raised an eyebrow when she saw his expression.

He looked even more confused than he had been in the last three months.

“Guildmaster?” Sixer stopped at the edge of the row of plants Maria was working through. “Why are you…doing all this?”

“What do you mean?” Maria turned and looked at him, not getting up to her feet yet. As glad as she was to see Sixer starting to question things, his questions were usually ones that caused her to worry.

“Why are you giving away information and taking nothing in exchange?”

“Because I feel like it,” Maria replied. “And Deerper was curious; I’m not going to keep him from leaning. As for asking for something in exchange…well, I already know a lot about his family because of how information gets across dimensions. If there’s something I don’t know about, I can go learn about it myself.”

Sixer blinked. “You…give information freely when asked.”

Maria shrugged. “I don’t see why I shouldn’t. I don’t work on a system where I need knowledge for knowledge, or something for something else. As interesting as it would be, I don’t _need_ to have an exchange like that. It’s not in my nature.”

The way Sixer looked at her suggested that Maria had just said something he hadn’t been expecting.

“Is that…what Cipher did?” Maria frowned slightly.

Sixer nodded. “Every exchange of knowledge was a deal to him, Guildmaster.”

“Every conversation?”

Sixer nodded.

“Then that just means he focused on the binding contract of a deal; I don’t _make_ deals,” Maria replied. “Sixer, I already told you – I’m not Cipher, I’m not going to treat you like Cipher did, and I’m not going to _act_ like Cipher in any way. Deals that are bound in handshakes and fire are not things that I do. I’m not a demon, I’m a human in a mechanical body that looks like a human’s.”

Sixer blinked. He didn’t look like he had been expecting that, and it appeared to make him even more confused. “So…you don’t require anything in return for….” His confusion increased, but it looked more internal.

“…for the physical contact?”

The question caught Maria off-guard. “ _What?_ No! No, I’m not looking for anything in return from that!”

At least, not in the way Sixer was likely _thinking._

“I’m doing that because it appears to me that you _need_ the contact, Sixer. I’m not asking for anything in return from you – I’m doing this because I feel like it. Because I want to.”

Maria knew that Sixer wasn’t _able_ to “want,” but maybe he would still be able to understand what it was she was getting at.

She rose to her feet, leaving the fertilizer on the ground. She walked over to Sixer and stood in front of him, looking at him with a concerned expression. He looked back at her with a confused expression as he took a slight step back.

Was he a little nervous?

“Sixer. I’m _not_ like anyone back in the Fearamid. I should hope that you know this by now.”

Sixer blinked, then nodded a little.

“So what I do does not mean that I am going to ask for what _they_ would ask in return. What I want, right now, is to make sure that you feel _safe_ here. And if that means offering you occasional touches that are _meant_ to be reassuring, then that is what I am going to do.”

Maria reached up and rested a hand on Sixer’s shoulder, right over the joint where his arm began. “I know it feels strange now, but…I have a reason for doing this. I do. You’re safe in this dimension, while it stands now, and Cipher’s not going to get his hands on you again while I stand here between you and him. You don’t _have_ to keep your walls up anymore.”

At that, Sixer’s expression shifted slightly. It was almost unnoticeable, but for a moment, Maria _thought_ that she could see something on Sixer’s face that she hadn’t seen there before.

It almost looked like his eyes were starting to become…wet?

The change in expression was gone as quickly as it came as Sixer schooled his expression into that blank, emotionless stare that had been rather resolutely on his face for the last few months.

Maria kept her gaze on Sixer’s expression for a moment, then sighed and dropped her hand from his shoulder. “Come on; I need some help finishing fertilizing the plants. It shouldn’t take us too long, since I’ve already done half.”

Sixer blinked, then nodded slowly and moved to assist.

**Time Break**

Similar events happened over the next few days – Sixer would look at Maria with a confused expression when she patted him on the back or on his shoulder or arm, and his face would shift for the slightest of moments before going back to the blank mask. And it wasn’t just Maria who noticed.

“Hello, Maria! Sixer!” Fiddleford strode over, carrying a tool box in one hand.

“Hi!” Maria waved at the inventor. Sixer looked over, but he said nothing. “What brings you out here, Fidds?”

“Stanferd wanted me ta look over some parts an’ figure out if there was anything we could use for defense!” Fiddleford replied. He frowned. “Say, ya mind if I have a look at yer systems before the weather gets too cold?” Fiddleford walked over to where Maria was sitting on the porch next to Sixer.

“Hm?” Maria blinked. “Oh, yeah, sure – it is starting to get to be around that time of year, isn’t it? Do you want to do it now or…?”

“Yer okay with openin’ up in the middle of the woods?” Fiddleford raised an eyebrow. “Doesn’t exactly sound safe fer yer inner workin’ parts.”

“I’ve had repairs and check-ups done in worse places, believe me.” Maria held out her left arm towards Fiddleford. “Well, better get this started, right? Or do you want to do this inside? Because it could get messy and I don’t think that Alex wants to come home to find old oil or something all over his nice floor.”

“Fair point, fair point.” Fiddleford put the tool kit on the porch and opened it up. “Now, the instructions said somethin’ about ya bein’ able ta switch ta—“

Maria breathed in, and as she exhaled her clothes flickered into something else – a set of armor that covered her from the neck down. Colored red and orange armored plates sat on top of a plain gray jumpsuit, she suddenly dropped an inch on the porch as the wood groaned underneath her.

“Whoa!” Maria laughed. “Almost forgot about the weight conversion there.”

“Ya mean, ya make yerself lighter when yer not lookin’ like that?” Fiddleford opened up the toolbox and motioned for Maria to hold her left arm a little closer.

“Have to be more human in almost every way – and that includes keeping me from weighing more than I’m supposed to.” Maria shrugged as Fiddleford fiddled with the orange armor that encircled her forearm. He found the panel after a little bit of poking and popped it open, revealing the circuitry inside. “Weighing more than a human normally does, I mean.”

“Metal weighs far more than flesh and bone!” Fiddleford confirmed. “I’d like ta study that weight displacement system later, if yer willin.’ It might help me with some of my inventions!”

“I don’t see why I can’t work with you on that later,” Maria replied. She turned her arm slightly while Fiddleford looked at the inner mechanisms.

It took a little bit before Maria and Fiddleford noticed that Sixer was peering over Maria and looking at the exposed circuitry and inner moving parts with an expression that was…

…absolutely _blatant_ curiosity.

Sixer noticed the two of them looking at him and started to pull back, the curiosity melting from his face rather quickly.

“It’s okay, Sixer.”

Sixer blinked in surprise.

“I wouldn’t be doing this out in the open if I didn’t want people seeing what I look like under my armor,” Maria added. “I trust the people here. If you want to have a look, I won’t hold it against you.”

Sixer stared, eyes a little wide. “You…won’t?”

“No. There’s nothing wrong with being curious, Sixer. It’s all right.”

Fiddleford closed up the panel on Maria’s left arm and motioned for her to hold out her right, which she did. Sixer moved away from where he was sitting so that Fiddleford could get to her arm, but he could still watch what it was they were doing.

“Doesn’t look like anythin’s had any trouble with the weather here yet. That’s good.” Fiddleford nodded. “’Specially considerin’ that ya came from a desert planet, accordin’ to that info ya gave me.”

“I’ve been to a lot of different climates across dimensions; it’d be weird if I didn’t have a way of controlling my internal climate,” Maria replied. “It helps that I know how to manipulate how warm I am overall in response to that.”

“Part a’ yer magic thing, right? Any chance you could teach the rest a’ us how ta do somethin’ like that?”

Fiddleford’s hopeful tone made Maria laugh a little, then shake her head. “Magic is tricky business. You might not be able to use fire magic specifically.”

“Guildmaster, didn’t you say that yours was inherited?” Sixer asked.

“In my case, yes. But that was because my parents were from a dimension that isn’t supposed to have it and this dimension has magic all over the place, so Fiddleford _could_ learn how to use a spell or two to help him with his inventions. It’s just a matter of finding an elemental ability that he’s most in-sync with.” Maria frowned. “And that might…take a while.”

“Well, it’s somethin’ we could look into!” Fiddleford closed the panel on Maria’s arm and grabbed her right leg, looking over the armor the covered her calf and foot like a large boot. “Now, lessee….”

“There used to be jets down there,” Maria commented as the panel popped open. “Joshua pulled them out, though – I’ve got a hoverboard, so I don’t really need anything like that.”

“Can I have a look at that later?”

“I don’t see why not.”

Sixer shifted slightly. “Guildmaster…”

Maria looked at Sixer and tilted her head slightly when she saw him frowning. “What is it?”

“…how much of you isn’t…human, anymore?”

That was a question Maria should and at the same time wasn’t expecting. She blinked a couple times.

Sixer noticed the hesitation and started to look a little nervous. “Should I not have asked?”

“No, no, it’s – it’s just I haven’t really been asked that in a while. Heh.” Maria gave a small smile. “I got in an accident, right near the beginning of my travels across dimensions. Some evil mastermind with robots was planning on taking over the world, and I portaled in to help his rival and former partner stop him. Unfortunately, I got caught in the crossfire a bit. So Dr. Light did what he could in order to make sure I’d actually live and – well, the result was a lot less human than you’re probably thinking.”

Maria rapped a white-gloved hand against her armored chest. The sound of metal hitting metal came back almost immediately. “The only part of me that’s still human is my soul, nestled in my power core. Everything else is metal and fuel and whatever else an android needs in order to function.” She looked nostalgic, but there was a sadness in her eyes as well. “It…took a while to get used to, considering that I’m not human anymore and sometimes my voice sounds like it’s spitting static, but…it’s a change I’ve made my own.”

Maria looked over at Fiddleford and saw that the man looked wide-eyed.

“Yer tellin’ me someone figured it out?” Fiddleford asked. “How ta – ta put a human in a mechanical form?”

Maria nodded. “I don’t think he’d be able to do it again, though. There’s…a lot of factors that went into what happened to me. Most notably being what my soul is sitting _in._ The crystal that is my core is a special kind found in a version of Atlantis. It basically acts like a battery, elongating people’s lives while at the same time feeding off the positive energies that people can feel. Positive emotions, that kind of thing. I’ve also got the option for solar power and just regular food, so I can run pretty well for a while.”

Maria looked over at Sixer as she finished speaking, and found herself looking at an expression she was _not_ used to seeing on him. Sixer was wide-eyed, looking at Maria with what she guessed was almost a sense of _awe._

And then Sixer shook his head, and the expression was gone as quickly as Maria had noticed it.

“And your abilities carried over,” Sixer noted.

“They’re attached to my soul is my best guess.” Maria shrugged. “I guess they just…were able to manifest because of the mako soak my dad took. I’m not really in a position to experiment in order to find out.” She paused. “Probably would be a good idea _not_ to, really. I’d rather not find out what it is that caused the change if it’s going to change anyone who gets involved and they don’t want to be.”

“Very wise of you.” Fiddleford nodded and closed his toolbox. “Whelp! I think that just about does it fer the check-up I needed ta run! I’ll be by when the temperature drops ta see if ya need any oil or anythin’ like that.” He picked up his toolbox and gave them a wave before he set off.

Maria watched him go, then frowned and turned to look at Sixer, who watched her with a blank expression that wasn’t looking quite as well put-together as it had been.

“It’s okay to be curious,” Maria said. “It’s okay to ask questions. I’ve honestly been expecting it from you. And I’m willing to answer any questions you have.”

Sixer blinked, looking like he wasn’t quite sure what to make of Maria’s words, but the light of awe that Maria had seen in his face before started coming back.

It was still dim, but it was there. And that gave Maria hope.


	28. The Dam Breaks

Sixer’s curiosity was a step in the right direction, but Sixer wasn’t being openly curious like Maria had been expecting. It was muted, just like everything else about him seemed to be, but it was still _there._

As much as Maria wanted to draw it out more, she could guess that there was something else holding Sixer back.

“I don’t get it. I’ve tried so much and he _still_ hasn’t shown even the slightest emotion.” Maria scratched her head as she paced back and forth in Stanford’s living room, only Vash and Knives being present. “Star and Pine are recovering at a faster rate than I was expecting, and granted 600 years of being stuck can’t be undone in a few months, but –“

“You’re seeing the progress of the others and you are concerned over Sixer’s lack of it,” Knives finished.

“Exactly.” Maria stopped pacing and put her hands on her hips. “As much as I’m _not_ expecting them to be able to recover before next August, it’s already _November_ and Pine and Star are significantly better off than when we rescued them at the end of the summer. It’s ridiculous. Either they’re pretending to speed up the process or something else has gotten involved and is allowing them to move past the trauma they’ve experienced at least _somewhat._ Because this isn’t something that a person can get rid of in less than half a year, even.”

“The kids do still seem a bit nervous,” Vash spoke up. “I haven’t seen them not be as relaxed as Dipper and Mabel, or as open about some things without Mizar or Sphinx prodding them. They still have a ways to go.”

“A long ways,” Maria agreed. “But Alcor asked me to get Sixer’s emotions back by New Year’s. At this rate…I don’t know if I _can._ ”

“He is asking questions of you.”

“That’s curiosity, not emotion. He’s being driven a bit more by his knowledge, but he’s still hesitating to ask questions of me.” Maria sighed and threw her hands in the air. “What do you two suggest I do?”

Vash and Knives looked at each other.

“…Well, what you have been doing has gotten a reaction out of him, right?” Vash asked. “He’s asking questions again. That’s a part of what you’re aiming for, right?”

“Well, yes but – it’s not _everything._ ” Maria’s shoulders drooped; her hands felt like they were holding weights. “I just…I want him to know that it’s okay to feel things again. That I’m not going to put him in a situation where he _shouldn’t_ be feeling anything. Because that’s an absolutely stupid idea. So what do I do to—“

There came a knock on the wall, and Maria cut herself off to turn in the direction of the sound. She blinked in surprise when she saw Sixer standing in the doorway, looking slightly nervous.

“What’s up, Sixer?” Maria frowned, concerned.

“We have…visitors,” Sixer said carefully. “Crescent said they are two government agents who have been here before.”

Maria’s eyes widened sharply. “Trigger and Powers. Holy _scrap_ I didn’t think they’d be coming back at all!” She moved past Sixer and out the door, not looking back to see if Sixer was following after her.

Sure enough, there were a pair of men in suits standing in the middle of the clearing, looking around at the four Mystery Shacks with expressions of confusion. And at every open doorway, Stans and Fords were standing side-by-side, glaring at the agents.

Maria slipped out between Stanford and Stanley, who glanced at her before turning their attention back to the two agents. “Any idea what they’re here for?”

“They picked up the rift that dropped _them_ in back in August,” Stanley grunted. “Least, that’s what Trigger’s said.”

“Surprised it took them _this_ long,” Crescent added. “If they were on top of their game we’d have been neck deep in five minutes.”

“Well, failing at what they did here last time probably meant that it took them longer in order to get here.” Maria frowned at the two men standing in the middle of the clearing. It looked like they were trying to make sense of the number of Mystery Shacks that were in one place. “Well, at least their confusion confirms they haven’t heard of or run into anything like what’s going on here yet.”

“That may be, but their reason for being here is worrysome,” Stanford replied.

“We gotta draw them off,” Stanley muttered.

“I can make a mean Trigger copy,” Crescent spoke up. “Ya want me ta split them up?”

Maria didn’t like what _that_ meant, considering what Crescent had said of his powers before.

Stanford held up a hand before Stanley could respond. “That might not be for the best. We just need to convince them that what they’re looking for either isn’t in the area or isn’t the danger they think it is.” With that, he stepped off the porch and walked towards them.

Maria thought for a moment, then followed after him.

“Greetings,” Stanford said as they approached. “I am Dr. Stanford Pines.” He held out a hand to shake.

“I’m Maria,” the Guildmaster added, holding out her hand.

Neither one of the agents accepted the offer to shake hands, which caused Maria to put her hands on her hips while Stanford put his behind his back.

“Just the man we were looking for,” Powers said. “You do your research out in these woods, correct?”

“Correct. This anomaly you speak of – you said that you had seen it back in August?” Stanford asked calmly.

“We saw proof of it,” Trigger butted in. “It matched something that came onto our sensors over—“

“That’s top secret information,” Powers said, cutting Trigger off. “But yes, we have seen something similar to this before, and we think that there is a chance someone is constructing a powerful weapon in your area. Somewhere out in these very woods, in fact.”

Maria snorted loudly.

Stanford glanced at Maria before returning his gaze to the agents. “There are a large number of anomalies that take place out in the woods, but the worst thing that I’ve seen out here are wild animals and cults, but those groups aren’t an issue currently. It’s likely that your machines interpreted something that occurs here naturally as something that could be a danger.”

Maria nodded in agreement. “Yeah; Gravity Falls is pretty quiet all around, except for Fiddleford McGucket’s work. Maybe you picked up something of his?”

The agents looked at each other.

“Although, I _doubt_ that my colleague is any danger,” Stanford added. “He is a scientist, and he experiments, just as I do. I’m sure that if it’s anything that alerted your sensors, it’s something that will come to be a benefit and not a hindrance. He does sell his patents to the US Government exclusively, you know.”

“We are aware,” Powers replied flatly. “We have already spoken with him, and he denies putting together something that mimics that sort of power.”

“Well, then it has to be a naturally occurring phenomenon that’s somewhere out in the woods!” Maria motioned to the trees around them.

“Exactly.” Stanford nodded. “And considering the sorts of creatures that live out in these woods, I would not be surprised if that is in fact the case.”

“You’d better hope you’re not lying,” Trigger said, pointing at the two of them with a grim expression.

“Any opinions on what could have caused the energy fluctuations?” Powers asked. He glanced over at Gargrunkle and Sphinx, sitting on their porch and frowning at the two agents disapprovingly. “Those two monsters, for example?”

“No, it wasn’t caused by them,” Stanford replied in a deadpan.

“Perhaps we should—“

“No.”

Powers looked at Maria as he started to pull handcuffs out of somewhere in his suitcoat. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” Maria folded her arms across her chest. “The people in this clearing are family. You make off with those two and you’re going to have a lot more trouble than whatever you think caused that thing you came out here to find.”

The agents exchanged looks again.

“…we’ll be back,” Powers said finally. And then he got into the vehicle and pulled Trigger in with him.

Maria and Stanford stepped back from the vehicle as it turned and drove out of the clearing.

As soon as they were gone, Maria let out a sigh of relief. “Glad that worked.”

“They are going to be back.” Stanford frowned. “We are going to have to find a way to come up with a cover story…Stanley could assist with that.”

Maria nodded in agreement and turned to look at the porch…only to frown in confusion.

Sixer was looking down at his arm with a confused expression. Crescent and Stanley were looking at him with expressions that it took Maria a second to identify.

It wasn’t like she’d seen Stanley surprised and concerned before.

“What is it?” Maria made her way over to the porch, frowning.

Sixer looked up at the question, then said quickly, “It’s nothing, Guildmaster.”

Crescent shook his head. “That wasn’t nothing.”

“What do you mean?” Maria looked over at him and frowned.

“He reacted ta somethin’ – likely somethin’ you said, but I’m not sure what.” Crescent looked at Sixer with a grim expression. “I wasn’t expecting that.”

“Expecting what?” Maria looked at Sixer. “Sixer?”

Sixer met Maria’s gaze, and it was then that she saw what Stanford meant.

The kitsune’s eyes were _wet_ , and not in the usual sort of way – no, these eyes were wet with _tears,_ threatening to spill over.

“I—“ Sixer cut himself off. “I-I have it under control, Guildmaster.”

Maria looked Sixer in the eyes – really looked – and saw something else.

“Come on.” She grabbed his hand and tugged him off the porch, starting to head for the woods. “Nobody follow after us! At least don’t get too close if you do!”

Mizar stepped off the porch of her home. “Maria—“

“This isn’t something that can happen out here like this. I know what I’m doing; _trust me.”_

Mizar blinked in surprise as Maria and Sixer moved past her, but she didn’t move to stop them as they moved into the woods.

Maria wasn’t sure how long they were walking for, but by the time they’d reached an open clearing without her berry trees or any gnomes snuffling around in the underbrush, the forest had grown quieter than Maria was expecting. It was almost like there was a tension in the air, now – a tension that was going to burst at any moment.

And Sixer had grown quiet as well.

Maria let go of his hand and turned to look at Sixer, frowning. “Sixer, why do you think it’s a good idea to keep your emotions under wraps?”

Sixer blinked at the question. The tears had dried, left unshed, but while his expression had adopted its blank mask Maria could definitely see the cracks in it now.

“…because they hinder me, Guildmaster,” Sixer responded after a moment. “They can hinder—“

“I don’t care if they hinder _anything_ , Sixer.”

Sixer blinked, looking slightly taken aback at Maria’s words. “I…I don’t understand.”

“Sixer.” Maria sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “I _don’t_ want to _use_ you. I want to _help_ you. You’re _not_ someone I see as less than me. You _never_ were.”

Sixer only looked more confused.

“You’re _safe_ here. You’re not going to be ordered to do something you’re not going to like or _ever_ disliked. I _don’t intend to use you.”_

Sixer stared. It didn’t look like he understood what was being said.

Maria sighed irritably and walked over to Sixer, putting her hands on his shoulders. “Sixer. What makes you think that I’d _prefer_ to have your emotions held back?” She looked up at him with a furrowed brow.

“Emotions can hinder any commands that you might give me.”

“And what gave you _that_ idea?”

Sixer blinked. “Cipher made it clear that we were only there to serve—“

“ _I’m not Cipher._ ” Maria gave Sixer an exasperated look. “I’m not going to make you do the things that he did, and I’m not going to make you do anything that goes against anything that you might not like.” She shook her head. “Sixer, you’re _safe_ here. It’s okay to let your emotions out again; I’m not going to do anything to you just because you have emotions or don’t, but…I don’t know if you’re gonna be able to get completely better without them.”

Maria dropped her arms and pulled back while Sixer stared at her, confused and uncertain.

Maria could feel that her eyes were starting to get wet. She _needed_ to get through to him. Did she already lose her chance today?

“I will _never_ use you,” Maria insisted, her voice shaking. “You’re my equal, not something less.”

Sixer stared at her, still looking confused, but his eyes were wide. Not a look Maria had been expecting to see on his face.

And then his expression shifted as tears started to gather in Sixer’s eyes.

Sixer stumbled back from Maria by a couple steps as Maria only became more concerned. He wiped at his eyes, shaking his head, trying to visibly pull his face back into the blank expression he’d always had.

He was clearly going through torment of his own, and it caused pinpricks of something wet to start to form in Maria’s eyes.

_Oh, Sixer…_

Maria marched forward and grabbed Sixer’s shoulders again.

_If you’ve got a chance, Maria, it’s now._

“Sixer, _it’s okay._ It’s okay to cry.”

Maria’s own tears started tracking down her face as Sixer looked at her with his confused, teary-eyed expression.

And then Sixer took in a shaky breath and collapsed to his knees.

Maria quickly followed suit, keeping her gaze on Sixer’s face as shock took over his expression. He stared down at shaking hands, eyes wide and unfocused.

Maria sighed quietly and focused her power for the slightest of moments, sending a pulse of warmth from her core through her arms and out of her hands.

And then Sixer _reacted_.

The sound that came from his throat was a heart-wrenching _wail_ that made Maria’s core shudder. He covered his face with his hands, shoulders shaking first with tears, then with bitter laughter that almost made him sound crazed before going back to tears, then roars of anger.

And that’s when the fire began leaping off his tails and into the grass, setting fire to the clearing they were in. Granted, it was November, the weather was cold, and rain was something that would make itself more frequent later, but for now the grass was dry and like kindling. It reacted to the presence of Sixer's fire, summoned because of his emotional imbalance, and the greenery was set ablaze quickly.

Maria started drawing the fire into herself, keeping the damage to the forest at a minimum. She was startled for a moment when Sixer raised his head and lunged forward suddenly, burying his head in her shoulder, but she took it in stride and adjusted her arms, moving her hands from his shoulders and wrapping her arms around him instead. She closed her eyes and focused on pulling in the fire as it turned more into a raging vortex, mimicking the fact that Sixer didn’t currently have any control over his own emotions as _everything_ hit him at once.

A part of her was glad to be more durable than average humans, considering the way that Sixer was clawing at her shoulders and upper back, trying to find a place to hold on – to find some way to ground himself instinctually despite the emotional turmoil. Her clothes didn’t tear, and eventually Sixer settled for holding onto her shoulders, his arms hooked under hers.

Maria didn’t count how many minutes they stayed like that, Sixer going through every single emotion that he’d kept held back for so many centuries and her acting as a pillar to lean against, even as tears tracked down her own face. She let them fall, hearing Sixer’s pain and feeling it as a result of being right there with him.

Eventually, the fires started to die without Maria needing to suck them in, and Sixer’s wails and roars turning into quieter whimpers as he trembled from head to tails.

“Everything’s – everything’s gonna be okay,” Maria murmured, her voice shaking from her own tears. “It’s…it’s gonna be a while, but…but things are gonna be okay. You’re gonna be okay.”

She focused some of the energy boost she’d gained into a burst of warmth that surrounded them both, driving back the cooling temperatures of the end of the year and wrapping them both in a feeling that she _hoped_ conveyed comfort to some degree.

Sixer settled, the trembling slowing as the last few sounds quieted down to nothing.

Maria waited about half a minute to see if Sixer would stir, and when he didn’t, she turned her head slightly to look at him.

It looked like Sixer had gone unconscious, tear tracks crisscrossing his face. His nose was a bit runny as well, and his expression made him look like he still had a few tears to shed.

He’d worn himself out.

Maria sighed quietly and bowed her head before looking up at the sky.

Bright blue, and not a cloud in it.

“Would have fit in real well if you’d decided to rain right about now,” Maria muttered at it, scowling.

The sky didn’t change, and Maria sighed irritably before shaking her head.

She lowered her gaze from the sky, then saw a group of figures standing at the edge of the clearing.

“Did you watch _all_ of that?” Maria demanded, throwing her voice across the clearing.

“We only came when we heard him start screaming,” Dipper replied, stepping forward. “What happened?”

“He felt _everything_.” Maria adjusted her hug slightly as the others approached. A little tighter, a little more protective.

The others exchanged looks at that, both surprise and worry on their faces.

“You mean…” Crescent trailed off, looking at Maria with a wide-eyed look.

Maria nodded. “He let the barrier down. But he wore himself out with the consequences of that and, uh…well, I don’t think I can carry him back too well.” She gained a sheepish sort of expression. “A little help?”

The question caused the others to exchange looks before they started moving forward at once.

“Can I do it?”

Stanford paused before he could start to pull Sixer off Maria, then turned and looked at Star. “You want to—“

“I’d _like_ to,” Star corrected, wincing a little. “I-I can…I can lift him up in a bubble.”

Sphinx moved over next to Star. “If you would like to do this, I don’t see why you can’t.”

Star blinked at him, then nodded and looked over at Maria. “Is it…is it okay?”

“Go for it,” Maria replied.

Star moved a little closer, then reached forward and touched Sixer’s back. As she started to pull away, a pink energy started to spread out and cover Sixer before suddenly expanding into a bubble. Maria had barely enough time to get out of the way before she could have been caught up in it as well.

Star made a careful motion with one hand, pulling the bubble up to hover near her head. Inside, Sixer curled in on himself, hovering in the center.

“That’s pretty cool.” Maria pushed herself up to her feet. “Thanks, Star.”

Star blinked, a little wide-eyed at the response.

“How about we put him somewhere that won’t possibly leave him with motion sickness?” Sphinx suggested. “His own bed, perhaps?”

Star nodded. “Yeah; I can do that.”


	29. Spiritual Allies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My alternate title for this would probably be "In which Maria attempts a Dues Ex Machina, but partially fails." She may have powerful allies from other dimensions (especially as she has traveled across dimensions for a very, /very/ long time), but that doesn't mean that they are as powerful as we might like them to be.
> 
> Oh, and if anyone asks, Maria's referencing events that happened waaaaaay back in her second and third stories in my series, just in case anyone wants to go all the way back and see how terrible my writing style was in high school.

Maria stayed in Stan’s and Ford’s Shack that night, sleeping on the couch in the living room.

As much as she was relieved that Sixer had his emotions back…the _way_ they had come back had left Maria feeling more exhausted than relieved. Sixer had felt so much emotional pain in that span of time that she was starting to wonder if she had damaged him _more_ by accident.

The thought kept her up half the night, but eventually she did get some rest, if only a little. But she’d been able to run on less.

The next morning, Maria rolled off the couch to the smell of bacon and eggs coming from the kitchen. She poked her head in and blinked when she saw that Star and Pine were down eating with Tyrone and Maple, but Crescent and Sixer were nowhere in sight.

“Uh…morning,” Maria said cautiously, getting their attention. “Sixer isn’t awake yet?”

“Doesn’t seem like it,” Alex replied from next to the stove. “We got a call earlier – the townsfolk are a bit worried about…well, something they heard from the woods. Uncle Stan said they were going to ‘have a look around’ to see if there was anything going on, but….”

His gaze moved in the general direction of the second floor, and Maria understood what he meant.

“I’d…rather not tell them what actually happened,” Maria said carefully. “So I’m glad he came up with a cover-up.”

“We’re gonna be helping, since it’s the weekend,” Tyrone spoke up. Maple nodded in agreement. “Grunkle Stanford wants to make sure that the creatures in the woods don’t get any ideas about what’s happened.”

“Sounds good. I’ll…ah, go check on Sixer.”

Maria ducked out of the kitchen and made her way upstairs to the guest room that had become Sixer’s family’s bedroom. She stopped at the doorway, the door already slightly ajar, and peered in.

Sixer was awake. He was sitting on his bed, a hand over his eyes.

Maria could see a glimmer of wet and sighed worriedly before she stepped into the room. “Sixer?”

Sixer looked up, blinking rapidly.

“Hey. You feeling okay?” Maria came over and sat down on the bed next to him. She put a hand on his back and focused a pulse of warmth through her arm.

Sixer sighed and covered his eyes with his hand again. “I-I don’t know. I had control over this before….”

Was  _that_ what he thought that was?

“That wasn’t exactly…healthy,” Maria said carefully. “I’ve done it myself, so I know, but I didn’t hold it back for as long. Nor did I hold back…everything. I just…you can’t keep everything buried like that; at some point it’s going to come out into the open whether you want it to or not. And with us, well – fire is tied to emotions. I didn’t think it would be a good idea for you to be in the same clearing as the Mystery Shacks when…yeah.”

Maria looked at Sixer with a worried expression for a moment, then looked across the room and saw Crescent looking at the two of them with a guarded expression.

“…oh,” Sixer said quietly. There was a pause as Maria looked at him, and he continued, “I…hadn’t considered the two were connected.” He dropped his hand from his face and sighed, closing his eyes. “I feel like a fool.”

Maria sent another pulse of warmth to him. “Sixer, when you did it, did you know everything about your abilities?”

Sixer blinked at the question. He looked surprised, then shook his head a little. “…no. I didn’t. I had to be told I was capable of transforming.”

“Transforming?” That was unexpected. What could—

Maria shook her head, pushing the thought to the back of her mind. “Wait, wait – no, I can follow that later. Sixer, there are a lot of things that you didn’t know about your abilities because you didn’t have a chance to experiment on your own like I did. Or get a teacher, even.” That caused her to pause. “In fact, if you’re feeling more up to it later, I’d be willing to show you a few things that I’ve picked up.”

Sixer’s ears flicked up and turned in Maria’s direction before he looked at her in surprise. “You…you would?”

Crescent pushed himself up to his feet and walked out of the room with an unreadable expression.

“Well, yeah.” Maria smiled at Sixer. “I had help learning how to control my abilities. I’d have no problem in teaching you when you’re up to it.”

“…Thank you…”

Maria rubbed a quick circle into Sixer’s back, then pulled away. “There’s a full breakfast waiting downstairs. French toast, scrambled eggs, bacon – it looks like Alex went all-out this morning. Would you rather one of us bring some up here or—“

“I-I’ll be okay having it downstairs.”

Maria’s brow furrowed. That response had been quick. “Are you sure?”

Sixer nodded, quickly drying his eyes with a sweater sleeve. “Yes. I-I’ll be fine.”

Maria hesitated. Well…if Sixer felt he was up to it.

She nodded. “Okay.”

Maria got off the bed and moved to the doorway before stopping. She waited for Sixer to follow her over.

He did bow his head slightly as he past her, but he held her gaze, rather than looking away.

First time he had done that in the three months he had been here. The sight of it raised Maria’s spirits a little, but they still had a ways to go.

Sixer wasn’t completely healed. He had just taken a giant step in the right direction, but it was going to take time before he would be closer to how his counterparts were. Or perhaps something else entirely.

The two of them made their way down to the kitchen, where Pine, Star, Tyrone, Maple, and Alex were finishing off their breakfasts. Stan was standing at the stove, visible eye focused on flipping pancakes while Ford watched his brother.

Crescent was there as well, sitting at the table and chewing on a mouthful of bacon. He looked over as they walked in.

Crescent swallowed as Sixer sat down and started grabbing food. “How ya feelin’?”

Sixer paused, one hand over the pile of French toast. “I’m…I’m not sure.” He grabbed a slice and pulled it onto his plate.

Maria grabbed an empty plate and sat down at the table, then started grabbing breakfast bits for herself – two French toast, eggs, bacon... She looked between Crescent and Sixer as she did so, watching the conversation.

Crescent raised an eyebrow as Tyrone and Ford glanced over, now paying a little more attention to the conversation.

Sixer rubbed his thumb along his index finger, looking away from Crescent. “I…I have some things to think about.”

Crescent grunted. He grabbed another piece of bacon and started chewing while Maria took a bite of her improvised breakfast sandwich. Maria knew some of the things that were going through Sixer’s head, but…she didn’t know everything.

Sixer sighed as he closed his eyes. His eyes started to water a little, but he made an attempt to ignore it as he started eating.

Crescent rose from his seat abruptly and moved around the table. Sixer didn’t notice until Crescent had grabbed him in a hug.

“About time you let things out, nerd.”

That was apparently enough.

Sixer immediately buried his face in Crescent’s chest as he started sobbing quietly.

_Oh, Sixer…_

“Is he okay?” Maple asked while Star stared at her grunkles with a wide-eyed expression.

“I think he’s getting used to having emotions again,” Maria replied. “Going without them for that long…either they’re a _lot_ stronger than he’s used to, or he’s still trying to figure out how to respond to situations. We just have to give him time and shoulders to lean on when he needs them.”

Maple nodded at that, but still looked worried. Star looked at her brother and nudged him.

“I see it,” Pine replied quietly.

Sixer’s crying slowed to a stop after a few minutes.

Crescent pulled away slightly from his brother. “Better?”

Sixer sniffled. “Uh-huh.”

“All-righty.” Crescent squeezed Sixer a little, then pulled away slowly.

Sixer wiped the tears away with a sweater sleeve, then took in a breath to compose himself. He still looked a little shaken, like he was going to start crying again at any moment.

Maple pushed a glass of orange juice at Sixer. “Here. You’re gonna need to rehydrate.”

Sixer nodded, then downed the glass in a few gulps.

Crescent ruffled Sixer’s hair. “If ya ever need ta talk, we’re around, ya know?”

“Nnh.” Sixer nodded a little in response. As Crescent moved back to his seat at the table, his ears drooped.

Why were they drooping?

Maria sent him a concerned expression, but when Sixer noticed and looked over at her, she quickly averted her gaze and finished off her breakfast. Then she sat back and waited while Sixer finished his own breakfast at a slower pace.

There had to be something she could do to help his emotions settle. But what? She couldn’t manipulate emotions other than her own – that was a part of Sixer she _didn’t_ want to try that with; it could cause damage that she didn’t want done.

It was a part of his very soul, she couldn’t—

Wait.

“I think I might be able to do something that’ll make this a little bit easier.”

Sixer looked over as Maria rose to her feet.

“What do you mean?” Crescent frowned while Star and Pine exchanged looks.

Maria was _really_ annoyed with herself for not having thought of this sooner.

“I know some creatures that represent the different parts of souls.”

Sixer’s eyes widened. “H-how?”

Maria reached into her jacket and pulled out the familiar red and black, rectangular device that she had shown Stan and Ford before she’d brought them home.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me.” Stan looked at Maria with an incredulous expression. “There’re Pokémon things that do that too?”

“Pokémon?” Tyrone repeated. “Are those anything like…like Monstermons?”

“Something like that.” Maria flicked her wrist, opening the PokeDex. “You remember Cress and Dusk, right?”

“Who?” Crescent frowned.

“A Cresselia and a Darkrai. They’re basically demigods of dreams and nightmares, respectively. Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie – or Jewels, Lien, and Merlin, as I know them – are also demigods. They’re the literal embodiments of three things that make up souls. I’m surprised I didn’t think of this sooner, honestly – they might be able to help with the whole willpower problem, _on top of_ helping Sixer’s emotions settle.”

Sixer’s ears rose; Maria could see his tails twitching. The wide-eyed look on his face showed some recognition. “A-are they a part of your guild?”

Maria nodded. “They were the guardians for the Time Gears, too. They joined after time went back to normal, and they played a pretty big role in something else later. So do you guys think I should bring them in on this?”

Crescent slammed his hands on the table. “Why didn’t you think of them back in August?!”

“Kinda distracted by the fact that I was in a new situation that I needed to work the initial kinks out of,” Maria replied. “So do I bring them in now or do we wait for Stanley, Mizar, and Sphinx to get over here before I freak them out over little pixie-sized creatures that know something about soul manipulation?”

“Know something about what?”

Maria turned as Mizar, Stanley, and Sphinx stepped into the room. Talk about good timing.

“These three creatures Maria knows about.” Stan nodded in her direction. “Embodiments of the soul or somethin’.”

“What?” Mizar’s eyes widened.

“Pokémon yes, demigods technically, embodiments of knowledge, emotion, and willpower, definitely,” Maria replied. “I can summon them here, if you think it’s—“

“Heck yes, let’s do this,” Stanley replied. “If we can figure out what’s goin’ on an’ how ta fix it _now,_ then we should do it.”

“All right then.” Maria turned her attention to her PokeDex and pushed down on one of the buttons. “Merlin, Lien, Jewels – I’ve got a bit of a soul problem over here and I’d really appreciate if you could get here as soon as—“

Maria was cut off with three bright flashes that went off above their heads – one a soft pink, one a soft yellow, and one a sky blue color.

Alex yelped in surprise at the sudden appearance of the creatures. Star and Maple gasped at once, and the others went wide-eyed.

“Whoa….” Tyrone sounded near-speechless.

The three Pokémon Maria had summoned were small in size, with mostly-white bodies and twin tails with red gems stuck into the ends. Red gems also adorned their foreheads, with each head being a different color and shape. The one with closed eyes and a yellow head had the shape of a helmet; the one with a pink head had two pigtail-like shapes on either side of its head, and the blue-headed being was more diamond-like in shape.

Sixer looked a little nervous at their appearance. Maria couldn’t blame him; these were creatures with a great amount of power to their names.

The Pokémon with the yellow helmet – Uxie, or Merlin – turned to look at Maria. _“What is the trouble, Maria?”_

Maria was about to respond to the question when she saw the blue-themed Pokémon – Azelf, or Jewels – look around the room and focus his red-eyed gaze on Sixer, Crescent, Star, and Pine in turn. He looked grim.

 _“Someone has desecrated these people,”_ he said, voice snarling.

“That’s putting it lightly,” Maria said. She looked at the others in the room. “Guys, these three are Merlin, Lien, and Jewels.” She motioned to the three in turn. “They represent Knowledge, Emotion, and Willpower, respectively.”

 _“Who did this?”_ Jewels asked.

Introductions on the other side could wait.

“A triangular-shaped demon named Bill Cipher,” Maria replied, grim. “He tore their willpower out and turned Sixer and his family effectively into puppets. They’ve been stuck like this for…a long time.”

Just saying that left a sour taste in her mouth.

 _“And are they still connected to him?”_ Merlin asked.

“No. We rescued them; Sixer’s connected to me, Crescent’s with Stanley, Star is with Sphinx, and Pine is with Mizar. It’s been like this for the last three months.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lien floating over to Sixer. She’d likely sensed his emotional turmoil.

“To be honest, I only thought of you guys this morning. Sixer’s finally broken the barrier that was keeping his emotions back, and—“

 _“So much pain in this one.”_ Lien cut Maria off, keeping her voice quiet and gently. _“You’re all over the place – oh dear. I can help that part of you calm, if you wish.”_

Sixer blinked, looking between Maria and Lien. “What would that…entail?”

He was thinking for himself and asking the important questions; good. Maria was curious about this as well.

_“You don’t know what to feel at this point, correct?”_

Sixer hesitated, then nodded slowly.

_“I can help slot those feelings back into place, but only if you feel you need it. Otherwise, you are going to be floundering while you try to find a way to settle on your own.”_

Sixer looked over at Maria again, expression uncertain. Maria could guess what was going through his head.

“Sixer, the decision is yours to make, not mine.”

Sixer blinked.

“It’s your soul she’s here to help. It’s your decision to make.”

Sixer looked a little surprised at that, then frowned a little. Then he looked at Lien and nodded. “Okay.”

Lien nodded. _“This may feel a little funny.”_ She put her paws against his chest and started to pulse with a pink aura.

 _“While she is focusing on that.”_ Merlin floated in front of Maria. _“I would like to know more about this situation. Would you mind if I looked at your memories for a moment?”_

“You’ll leave them as they were when you’re done?” Maria replied.

_“Of course. I see no reason in wiping any of that from you.”_

“Wiping?” Sphinx repeated.

_“As a being of knowledge, I can make sure that people forget what they know. Now….”_

Uxie’s closed eyes started to open.

And Maria was immediately whisked into her memories, both recent and old, as Merlin mulled through the various moments where Maria had run into knowledge of Gravity Falls and the monsters that plagued it from beyond its own dimensional walls.

Maria let herself be tugged along by the wave of memories, taking in the first time she’d ever seen Gravity Falls all over again before being pulled out as the kitchen came back into focus around her.

 _“This is graver than I thought,”_ Merlin said as he pulled back, brow furrowed. _“This Cipher creature is mimicking Cyrus’ thought of using people as mindless beings enslaved to his will, but he has changed the idea into something terrible.”_

How had he gleaned _that_ from Maria’s memories?

…unless…

Maria saw Sixer frowning out of the corner of her eye, Lien floating near him. “Sixer, what is it?”

“That name…it’s familiar.” Sixer’s frown deepened. “But it…feels like an old memory; I don’t—“

Crescent snapped his fingers. “That ignoramagon mentioned somethin’ about a Cyrus havin’ a good idea on the right track, but it wasn’t good enough or somethin’.”

Maria’s expression darkened, as did those of the three Pokémon.

“If Cipher had a neck, he’d be strangled the next time I see him,” Maria said. “Of _course_ he mimicked Cyrus for this.”

“You know this man?” Sphinx asked.

“Know him? I _clobbered_ him, and then he snuck around my back while I was away from his dimension and pulled the very thing I was trying to stop. I’m lucky that my friend was able to stop him before things got too bad. Tch. Of _course_ Cipher would take inspiration from him of all people.”

Maria was grateful to Khrista for stopping him when she couldn’t, but Maria hadn’t seen or heard from her since the World Collision. She hoped that Khrista was all right, wherever she was.

Maria pushed that thought out of her mind. She had other things to think about right now.

“Jewels, is there anything you can do?”

The Azelf didn’t answer for a moment, then sighed and shook his head. _“As much as I wish I could help, this is one situation where I am incapable of assisting you in returning their willpower to their natural state. This kind of manipulation is something that I have not seen before.”_

Not seen before? That wasn’t good.

Jewels motioned with a paw, sending blue sparks falling across the room. Wherever they stopped in the air, they turned into glowing blue lines.

At least, that _had_ been Maria’s thought, before she saw the lines connect to Sixer’s neck and wrists, revealing glowing fire-like symbols imposed over equally glowing scars from the manacles and collar he _had_ been wearing in the mindscape.

Maria paled abruptly.

 _“He repurposed their willpower,”_ Jewels said as more strings appeared. Symbols appeared on Star, Pine, and Crescent – Star had paw prints, Pine with Alcor’s symbol, and Crescent with dollar signs. Underneath those symbols were similar triangular scars.

_Repurposed?_

Then their willpower hadn’t been _completely_ torn from them – it had just nearly lost its connection and been twistedly remade.

But then…where did it connect to Maria?

_“I don’t…I don’t know how I can undo something like this.”_

Maria looked down at the unhappiness in Jewels’ voice, then saw where the strings ended.

Including the ones likely wrapped around Sixer’s ankles, as there were two strings that came up from under the table.

Maria raised her hands, revealing that her right hand had all the strings disappear into the tips of her fingers. No doubt that the same could be said for the others, and the sight made the color drain from her face.

She didn’t like the look of it. It made her feel like some twisted puppet master, standing above—

No. No. Don’t think about that.

Maria saw Sixer’s ears droop as she looked over at Jewels. “There’s nothing you can do? Are you sure?”

 _“I can only affect the strength of a person’s will. Strengthening their will as it is now will only make the connection between you stronger, and I doubt that is what you want.”_ Jewels shook his head. _“I’m afraid we will have to find another solution to this particular problem.”_

Maria sighed and dropped her hands. “If that’s the case, then…what _can_ we do?”

 _“Keep doing what you have been doing,”_ Merlin replied. He hovered next to Maria’s shoulder and placed a paw there. _“You are on the right track to recovery. Perhaps, in the future, you will be able to find a solution that will allow their willpower to once again become a part of their soul, and not merely a connection between two souls. I doubt that you will simply give up on that here.”_

“I don’t intend to,” Maria agreed. She looked over at Sixer. “I guess, for now we just…focus on making sure we’re ready for next August.”

 _“An excellent plan,”_ Merlin replied.

Sixer nodded in agreement as a determined, burning look started coming over his eyes.

Lien gasped. _“Oh! Looks like Maria’s got her hands full with you!”_

“What are you—“ Maria yelped and scrambled around the table as the blue strings faded, eyes set on the chair Sixer was sitting on.

Sixer looked at her in confusion, only for his eyes to widen a moment later when he saw he’d unknowingly set the chair on fire.

“Okay.” Maria pulled the flames into herself, keeping the fire from doing any permanent damage. “Let’s head out into the woods and see if we can do anything about helping you get a little more control over that?”

Sixer ducked his head a little, looking somewhat sheepish. He nodded.

 _“Keep us posted,”_ Merlin said. _“Even if we cannot help now, we may be able to help in the future.”_

Maria nodded and gave the three Pokémon a thumbs-up. “You’ve got it.”

With that, the three creatures vanished in the same way they had come.


	30. Training Day

Maria led Sixer out to the clearing that Deerper and Mabelcorn had shown her a few months ago, when she had first wanted to test Sixer’s abilities.

Now the spot by the lake was going to get some attention again.

“Always good to have a water hazard nearby in case things get too out of hand,” Maria explained to Sixer when he sent the cliff a curious look. “I’d do this down near the shore, but I don’t know how much attention we’re gonna get if we do that.”

Maria didn’t want to get too much attention when Sixer likely just needed time to concentrate and think about what it was he was capable of.

Sixer nodded.

“Now – what have you got figured out for your abilities so far? You _can_ summon your fire without it needing to be connected to any emotion specifically, but it is responding to your anger, I noticed.”

Sixer thought for a moment and then nodded again. He was likely thinking of the kitchen incident, or what had happened last night.

“So we start there, then figure out what we need to do so that you won’t use _as much_ energy as you have been.”

“You mean doing this—“ Sixer summoned his fire, the flames licking up his forearms almost erratically “—is not energy efficient.”

“Nope.” Maria shook her head. “You’re actually using up more energy than you need to this way – all it does is make you look a little more intimidating. Which, while that can be a good thing sometimes…it isn’t always needed.”

“I see.” Sixer sounded thoughtful – or, at least, like he was starting to get where Maria was going with all this. The fire dissipated. “You are suggesting that I don’t need to summon as much.”

“Exactly. I don’t know how much energy you’ve got, and sometimes that means being more cautious about what you use rather than throwing around fire with reckless abandon.”

“What would happen if I reached my limit?”

Sixer was asking questions.

_Excellent._

Maria grinned. “Well, when you start getting to that point, hunger and exhaustion are going to start gnawing away at whatever remains of your energy. At some point, your automatic functions kick in and knock you out until you’ve rested enough to get some energy back. I’ve pushed myself to that edge quite a few times – usually against big bads that deserved to get the full brunt.”

Sixer nodded. “Which means you know your limits. Are you recommending I do the same?”

“Not right now, but it might be helpful later.” Maria shrugged. “We’re currently not in a position where we need to know how much energy you have on hand on a given day, so for now we won’t push that envelope too much.”

Sixer tilted his head slightly, considering that. “You are suggesting we take things slowly.”

“Basically.” Maria summoned a small fireball the size of a softball. “Let’s start with something basic – a Will O’ Wisp.” She bounced the fireball off her palm, and it started circling around her at a diagonal, flying down across her chest and then looping back up and over her shoulder. “They’re little heat-seeking missiles, basically, but if you remember—“

“Vulpix could use them to cause burns on others,” Sixer finished. He tracked the movement of the little fireball curiously. “I remember you showing me the technique, but I don’t know if I have the knowledge to replicate it.”

“Well, I can help with that.” Maria grinned. “First, we need to get your fire summoning under control so you don’t use so much and burn yourself out.”

Sixer nodded in reply. “Lead on.”

Maria’s expression tightened a little at Sixer’s reply, but she shook it off quickly in favor of launching herself straight into the task at hand.

The rest of the morning was spent with Maria explaining some of the finer points of fire summoning, showing Sixer how to create small bits of fire instead of the large amounts that had been left to burn away at his energy while encasing his arms as burning gloves. Showing Sixer how to summon and maintain a small amount of fire was the first thing they tackled, which proved to be a little difficult because of how he had fought for the last several centuries, but it wasn’t impossible.

Sixer’s stomach grumbled loudly at about noon, causing him to look down and lose concentration on two small orbs that were hovering around his ears. The fire flickered and vanished, and he looked at Maria with a curious expression.

Maria wasn’t the least bit surprised by the sound; she smirked a little. “Well, sounds like we’re starting to hit the edges of your limit, but we have been doing quite a bit with focusing on the little guys.” She let the two small fire orbs that had been circling her wildly like electrons flicker and vanish. “Do you feel light-headed, Sixer? A little weak in the knees at all?”

Sixer blinked at the question, then shook his head. “Other than the hunger, I feel fine.”

“Okay then.” Maria tapped her chin, thoughtful, and nodded. “So, we’ve basically used up all the energy that you picked up at breakfast, which is what I was expecting. It means your well of power is _likely_ similar to mine, which is a lot already.”

Sixer nodded, then frowned a little. “How much is a lot, exactly?”

Maria tapped her chin again in thought. How much _is_ her limit? It hadn’t been something Maria had thought about recently, especially considering that she wasn’t on Gunsmoke anymore.

Well, regardless, she did have a _pretty_ good idea. It wasn’t exact, but Maria had a feeling that it was pretty accurate.

“I could _probably_ burn this whole forest down in a single burst and go unconscious for a few hours from the power drain.” Maria shrugged. “Probably. It’s been a while since I’ve been pushed over the edge like that.”

The wide-eyed look on Sixer’s face seemed to say he hadn’t been expecting that. “The _entire_ forest?”

Maria made a “so-so” motion. “Give or take a half-acre, I think. But I’m not about to do that unless I have a reason to. And right now, I don’t see why I should.”

Especially since she didn’t have any enemies that lived in the forest as it stood. Cipher didn’t have a physical hide-out here; he would be here in a matter of months, granted, but they still had time.

Sixer stared, and probably would have continued looking surprised if his stomach didn’t growl loudly again.

“Let’s go get some lunch before we get back at this,” Maria offered. “I’m starting to feel a little hungry myself.”

Sixer blinked, then nodded a little. “…yeah. Okay.”

Maria moved past Sixer, grinning. “Hey, you’re making good progress. I didn’t nearly have this much control when Lea was teaching me how to use this kind of stuff.”

Sixer looked confused at the compliment. “Ah...was Lea a Vulpix as well?”

“No, he was human.” Maria looked back as Sixer fell into step a little behind her. “He had access to fire magic, and after my powers suddenly manifested he decided to take me under his wing a bit. He only taught me some of the basics, though – I haven’t seen him since before the World Collision.”

Thinking back to the spiky red-head, Maria’s expression shifted to one of nostalgia. “I hope that he’s doing all right, wherever he is. Keyblade Wielders have as much trouble as World Jumpers do, even if they’re focused on a specific area of worlds in the multiverse.”

“I…I don’t think I’ve heard of such people before.” Sixer frowned.

“I’m not surprised. They usually only show up when darkness gains a physical form and starts going after people. I’m not saying that Cipher isn’t a problem to them, but they usually keep an eye out for something…different.”

“So, they chose not to interfere with our series of events because there weren’t other creatures involved,” Sixer said. “Is…that what you are saying?”

“They’re also probably spread a little thin, but…yeah. I don’t think anyone was expecting your dimension to go in the direction that it did, Sixer.” Maria’s expression went sorrowful. “I certainly wasn’t.”

Sixer’s expression dropped at Maria’s words. “I didn’t, either.”

Maria could almost _feel_ the guilt in Sixer’s words. To her, it felt like an anvil had been dropped on her upper back and was threatening to send her to the ground and flat on her face.

_Wow._

“I know,” Maria replied. “But I refuse to believe that you will be stuck like this forever. Jewels might not know of a way to get your willpower back to where it’s supposed to be, but there might be others who _do_ know. We just have to find them.”

“What’s the point in that if the creature that _represents_ willpower doesn’t know of a way?”

Maria stopped and looked at Sixer with a distraught but determined expression. “Jewels isn’t all-knowing. He may be a being of determination and all the power that comes with a strong will, but that doesn’t mean that he knows everything that can be done with that part of the soul. Cipher’s done something that no one else has – as far as Jewels or I know – and that puts us at a disadvantage. I know; I’ve been in similar situations.”

It was hard not to, considering that Maria had faced off against beings in her own dimension that had caused events she hadn’t expected. Unicron being able to possess Megatron, for example.

“But that doesn’t mean that you’re stuck like this. The multiverse will have an answer; we just need to keep an eye out for it.”

Sixer blinked a couple times, looking confused and maybe a little thrown off by Maria’s confidence and conviction.

“Besides, you were able to eventually get rescued, right? It’d only make sense that other things would move in our favor,” Maria added. “I don’t doubt that it’s going to be difficult, but we still have to try and reach for it. Does that…make any sense?”

Sixer blinked again. He seemed surprised – at least, Maria hoped that’s what the look on his face meant. Just because Lien helped his emotions “settle” didn’t meant that he knew how to use them or what each one meant quite yet. Or, again, since Sixer had them before and then blocked them off.

“I…I think I might,” Sixer said, after a moment. “I’m…I’m not sure _how,_ but...I can see where you’re coming from. Maybe it’s…an old thought from before?”

“If it is, I’d suggest holding onto it.” Maria paused, then added quickly, “Not order, _suggest._ Villains like Cipher can’t win forever. Something is going to undo him, and I’d like to be there when that happens.”

Maria gave Sixer a grin that said she was ready to tear that demon limb from limb if it came down to it. He gave her a weak smile in return.

It wasn’t a look of complete confidence, but it was definitely something.

**Time Break**

Thanksgiving snuck up on them faster than Maria was expecting it to. One moment she was going through the motions of the basics of her abilities (and to that extent, Sixer’s), and the next she was waking up to the sound of Vash excitedly saying something about his “first proper Thanksgiving.”

“Whazzat?” Maria came into the kitchen and yawned. “I heard something about Thanksgiving?”

“It’s in two days!”

Vash’s excited response caused Maria to do a double-take as she reached for the coffee. “I – what? Already? Am I hearing that right?”

“Apparently,” Stanford replied from next to the coffee maker. “So I am not the only one that such things sneak up on, then.”

“…no, not this time.” Maria blinked a couple times. “Have people been prepping for it while I’ve been out by the lake sparring with Sixer?”

“Is that what you’ve progressed to?”

“Well…no, we’re mostly throwing fireballs at each other, but…” Maria frowned, trying to think of what to call the time they had been spending working on honing Sixer’s skills with his fire ability. She shook her head. “Not as important as the fact that Thanksgiving has snuck up on me without me noticing. Is there anything going on in town to celebrate it or—“

“Surprisingly, no.”

Maria blinked at Stanford’s reply. “Really?”

Stanley snorted. He was at the stove again, flipping pancakes. “Yeah. After all the excitement of Halloween I guess they want to jump straight to Christmas. People I’ve talked to have suggested it may go back further than that, but I’m not about ta ask. Got weird looks when I _did_ ask thirty-two years ago.”

“Must be some tradition, then.” Maria tapped her chin in thought.

“We’re…still gonna have turkey though, right?” Vash asked.

“Of course we are!” Stanley dropped a plate of pancakes on the table. “The kids want one, so we’re gonna have a thanksgiving feast, no problem. Stan an’ Ford are headin’ out with Tyrone an’ Maple today ta get the turkeys. Plan is ta have enough leftovers fer _at least_ a week.”

Vash looked like he was almost drooling. “And the cranberries and mashed potatoes and stuffing and—“

“Yeah, they’re gettin’ the stuff fer that, too.” Stanley rolled his eyes as Vash looked overly eager. “They’ll be back before lunch or so, but the stuff’s not gonna be ready ta be eaten yet. We gotta wait a bit, before—“

_“Hey!”_

Stanley was cut off by the sound of someone yelling outside. He blinked a couple times.

“That sounded like Mayor Tyler,” Stanford commented. “I wonder what he could need our attention for.”

Maria frowned. She’d only seen Tyler a few times, and each time he’d seemed…defensive, in her opinion. True, he didn’t seem any different from what she knew from the cartoon, but either _her_ being in this dimension or _Sixer_ being here was causing something to go on in that man’s head.

“Might as well find out what he wants,” Stanley muttered. “Or else he’s just gonna get even more annoying.” He turned off the stove and made his way over to the door, Stanford right behind him. Maria and Vash exchanged looks, then followed.

“What seems to be the problem?” Stanford asked as he stepped onto the porch. As Maria followed she noticed that Tyler was standing in the near-center of the clearing, hands on his hips as he looked around. No one else appeared to be out in the open, which made Maria wonder where Knives had gone and if there was anything that everyone else was up to.

Tyler turned to look at the group, expression serious. “Those government folks keep comin’ back, sayin’ somethin’ about an ongoin’ investigation into the area of Gravity Falls. Now, Blubbs and Durland can’t keep ‘em off your backs forever, so—“

“Wait.” Stanley frowned. “Yer sayin’ those two are still around?”

“Yes, and they are very much getting on the nerves of everyone else! They’ve come ta me an’ everyone else in town, askin’ if we know anythin’ about what yer studyin’ up here.”

“They haven’t brought that question up with me directly.” Stanford frowned.

“They said they did an’ ya declined ta say anythin’.”

“Then it’s likely they spoke with one of my counterparts – Ford, more than likely, as he and I are the only ones who are human out of the five of us.”

“Why would they want ta know about somethin’ like that?” Stanley frowned.

“Probably because they want to figure out what specifically caused that energy spike they’ve been talkin’ about.” Tyler glanced towards the woods. “You know the one.”

Maria moved off the porch. “They think it was caused by a weapon of some kind that someone is building out here; if they were to learn the truth of the matter, we might end up with more trouble on our hands than we need. Especially if the government finds out that alternate dimensions are a thing and that some of us come _from_ alternate realities.”

The door to Alex’s shack was pushed open, and Sixer stuck his head out. He looked around with a somewhat nervous expression.

“Which brings me to another question that’s been bothering me.”

Maria’s gaze moved from Sixer to Tyler as he spoke up again.

“If Cipher’s coming here at the end of next summer because those four are here, why don’t we just move them somewhere else? Keep them moving so that he can’t break into any one dimension? It’s not like they can go home anyway, if he’s—“

“You do that, and there’s a pretty high chance that Stanley, Sphinx, and Mizar are going to have to go with us,” Maria replied, cutting him off. “Considering their current positions, I really don’t think it’d be a good idea to separate them like that.”

“Yeah, no,” Stanley agreed. “I’m stayin’ here. An’ so’s Crescent – no ifs ands or buts about it.”

Tyler looked surprised. “I…I wasn’t aware that there was a chance that – but then, doesn’t that mean that he’s already—“

“If I may?” Sixer stepped off the porch and approached, looking between Maria and Tyler with a grim and cautious expression.

Maria gave him a curious look. Sixer looked at her for a second longer before he spoke again.

“He isn’t here because he isn’t _mortal_. He isn’t bound by physics like the rest of us are, and he is capable of entering dreams if he isn’t blocked off by unicorn spells or plates of a specific metal alloy that are installed over one’s skull. That’s why he could send us out without needing to be there – at least a part of him always _was.”_

Stanford started grimly nodding a little, then stopped. “Are you saying that you didn’t get to Jheselbraum? Because if he was in your head at any point, then that means you didn’t have the plate installed.”

Maria’s eyes widened sharply. “Scrap.” She looked at Sixer worriedly. He looked somewhat confused as he frowned and tapped his chin in thought. “Sixer?”

“…Jheselbraum,” Sixer murmured. “I think I – yes, I remember. She did put the plate in my head.”

“Well then, how was it that Puppeteer was able to get _into_ your head?”

“Puppeteer?” Maria blinked while Sixer’s ears stood up straight at Stanford’s question. “Is that what everyone else calls him?”

“Not yet, but they probably will after I drop the paperwork for it down the bottomless pit next week. I’ve done some calculations and I _should_ be able to get the information to the Council of Fords if I drop the file at—“

Sixer rapped a fist sharply against the side of his head and flinched back with a grunt of pain. He rubbed the spot with an expression of discomfort.

“What’d ya do that for?” Tyler asked in alarm.

“…testing something,” Sixer muttered absently.

“Let me see.” Maria moved over and stood on her toes in order to get a good look at the side of Sixer’s head. He remained still as she put one hand on his shoulder and carefully pressed her other hand against his head. Fire licked at her fingers before disappearing almost immediately into Sixer’s hair.

“…I don’t feel any scars.” Maria pulled back, frowning. “And it definitely doesn’t feel like there’s anything harder than ordinary bone under there. Then that means he…he probably pulled it out.”

That wasn’t good. That wasn’t good _at all._

“He pulled it _out?_ ” Stanford repeated in alarm. “When?”

“Wouldn’t doing something like that leave a mark?” Vash asked.

“Under ordinary circumstances, yes, but…” Stanford frowned worriedly.

“Sixer?” Maria looked at the kitsune with a concerned expression. She only became more worried when she saw the unnerved look on Sixer’s face.

As glad as she was for him to be expressing emotion again, the pale look he had on his face right at that moment was one that left her unnerved.

“I…I don’t remember him removing it,” Sixer said shakily. He looked at Maria, then to Stanford. He shook his head slowly. “I don’t know when he could have, o-or how.”

“That’s not good,” Stanley muttered.

Sixer’s hands were trembling. Maria quickly moved and guided him over to the porch, then sat him down on the edge of the wooden structure. She followed suit.

“Hey – deep breaths. What matters right now is that we know the plate’s missing. We can think about _how_ it was removed when you’re a bit calmer.”

The door opened behind them. “Whoa – what happened here?”

Maria glanced back at Crescent as he stepped out onto the porch. Sixer closed his eyes. It seemed he was concentrating on his breathing.

“Sixer  _had_ a metal plate in his head,” Vash explained. “It sounds like it got pulled out by…well, by you-know-who.”

“Metal plate?” Crescent scratched his chin, frowning. His green eyes went over to Sixer and Maria as Sixer opened his eyes again. The kitsune looked a little calmer, but not by much. “Is it, uh, somethin’ he would’a thought annoyin’?”

“Considering that it was supposed to keep him from gaining access to my mind, yes,” Sixer replied.

“Uh huh. How big of a chance is there that he pulled it out during a blackout?”

Sixer stiffened at the question. Maria’s own eyes went wide while Tyler looked confused.

“Blackout?” Tyler repeated.

“It…could be possible,” Sixer replied uneasily.

Stanford and Stanley both looked sick at the idea.

“Then let’s leave it at that. Think you could get another one in there? And maybe some for the rest of us?” Crescent looked over at Stanford and raised an eyebrow.

“You’re asking to travel to Dimension 52, reach Jheselbraum the Unswerving, and see if she has the capabilities to install the metal plate in someone who has been physically changed by a Cipher,” Stanford said flatly.

“Well, the kid can travel to other dimensions, right?” Crescent looked at Maria.

“Only to places that I’ve had clear visions of, or have seen in cartoons or video games,” Maria replied. “Dimension 52 was only _mentioned_ , and no one has a truly concrete picture of it like Stanford and Sixer do. I won’t be able to get there.”

“And even then, what chance do we have of her being able to shape the plates so that they will shift with us?” Sixer looked at Crescent with a saddened expression. “My fox form and your –“

“I get it, I get it.” Crescent’s expression soured. “So metal plates aren’t an option. Fine.”

“Unicorn hair still works though,” Maria pointed out. “Right?”

“Well…” Stanford hesitated. “…yes, so long as you stay within its boundaries. It’s not something you can carry around very easily.”

“I’m sure there’s a way. People have thought about maybe making bracelets from it, and putting the mercury in beads made for it or something like that. I’m sure something like that can be done, right?” Maria looked at Stanford with a curious expression.

Stanford blinked a couple times. “I…maybe? I haven’t had the idea presented to me in that way before.” He tapped his chin thoughtfully. “I’ll ask Fiddleford about finding the materials for that…maybe we can create enough to give to every member in town. But then we would…” He groaned loudly. “I would need enough unicorn hair for everyone in Gravity Falls and there is _very little_ _chance_ that we would be able to get that from them. They don’t think very highly of us.”

“I’ll talk to them,” Tyler spoke up. “I’m the mayor of the town; they’ll—“

“You’re talking about creatures that said that Mabel wasn’t pure of heart,” Maria spoke up, cutting Tyler off.

He looked aghast at the idea. “They did what now?”

Maria sighed. “It’s their scam; they claim that they can see who is pure of heart and then they’ll hand over their hair. They claimed it’s to keep people from bothering them, but that just got them into a fistfight with Mabel and her friends.” She ran a hand through her hair, then paused, frowning. “What if I talked to them? They don’t know me yet.”

“Are you certain that you will be able to get them to assist you?” Stanford responded.

“No, but there’s no harm in trying.” Maria shrugged. She looked at Sixer. “When I head out and do that, you don’t have to come with me if you don’t feel like it. I don’t think I’m going to have to do it soon, but I will at some point.”

Sixer – who had been looking at her with a somewhat wide-eyed expression – nodded slowly in response. “You – you really would be willing to do this much for us?”

“Of course. I don’t like what Cipher – er, _Puppeteer_ – has done to you guys.”

Sixer blinked. “Puppeteer?”

“Something I came up with,” Stanford explained. “To tell your Cipher apart.”

“Huh.” Crescent tilted his head. “Well, that definitely works.”

Sixer blinked, then nodded in agreement. “Yeah. It does.”

 


	31. December

Just like Stanford had said, Thanksgiving was a simple affair compared to the craziness of Halloween. As soon as the weekend after hit, however, there were decorations for Christmas, Hanukkah, and every other end-of-year celebration that existed on the planet.

It was chaotic, but at the same time the excitement in the air was impossibly infectious – in Maria’s opinion, at least.

But at the same time, it left her at a disadvantage.

“I have _absolutely no idea_ what to get everyone for Christmas!”

Maria tugged at her hair, looking out at the snow that had hit the ground over the last couple of days. School was temporarily on hold, so all the Shacks were crowded with kids and not with tourists. It was pretty official that tourists weren’t going to be making their way up to Gravity Falls in 2 feet of snow.

Stanley wasn’t happy about not having any tourists to rake any cash from, but the fact that the kids were enjoying themselves making snowmen seemed to have softened his outer exterior some.

“Isn’t it a bit early to be thinking about that?” asked Alex. It seemed whatever work he had wasn’t open today. “It’s only the beginning of December; we’ve got a good twenty days.”

“I want to beat the rush at the end of the year, if there is one in town.” Maria paused, blinking, then dropped her head into her hands and groaned. “But I don’t have any cash because I don’t have a _job_ in town. Damnit.”

Sixer looked over and tilted his head, ears flicking slightly. His expression was – _mostly_ – emotionless, but his curiosity was plainly seen. Even after getting his emotions back and settling into them thanks to Lien’s help, he tended to keep his feelings to himself. Which was…fine, but Maria hoped that he would start showing some more of what he felt.

“That could be a problem,” Karen agreed. As she stepped out of the kitchen and stopped to stand next to her husband, she put her hands on her hips, frowning. “Although, would it be out of the question to make gifts?”

“That would mean getting materials. Which would mean _buying_ materials.” Maria grumbled into her hands, then raised her head. “It leaves me in the exact same position.”

“Not completely.” Alex sent Karen a knowing look, then looked back at Maria. “Our daughter has a lot of crafting supplies. I’m sure you’ll be able to think of something, especially if you ask her for help.”

Karen nodded in agreement. “Yes; she’s very much into making small gifts for us for Hanukkah and Christmas. I don’t see why you can’t do the same.”

“Maybe….” Maria frowned, scratching her head. “I’ll have to see if Mabel or one of her counterparts would be willing to help me with anything. I…I _might_ have a few things I could use in my subspace pocket? But I haven’t really gone digging in there for a _long_ time, so I don’t know if there’s anything good in there.”

“Well, maybe look there first,” Alex suggested. “And then see if you need anything from Mabel.”

“…yeah. Yeah.” Maria tapped her chin in thought, frowning. “It’s been a while since I’ve done inventory…could get two birds with one stone here….”

“Guildmaster, what do you keep in your…subspace?” Sixer asked carefully.

“Lots of things. Journals, old tech, mementos from other worlds – I’ve got a surplus of berries in there too, in case the trees out in the woods don’t last the winter.” Maria ticked the items off on her fingers. “Extra supplies in case I run out of room in my journals – which has happened a couple times…might wanna restock on those soon….” She shook her head. “Know what, I’m just going to do that inventory now before I forget about it. Mind if I take over a room for a bit?”

Alex frowned. “We do have a living room that we haven’t been making use of—“

“Great, thanks!” Maria promptly took off for the other room in the house, leaving Sixer, Alex, and Karen behind with looks of surprised confusion.

The second living room that Alex mentioned looked like it was one used for the Mystery Shack’s museum. Except that Alex wasn’t _using_ his home as a museum, which was a good thing at the moment. Maria sat down on the floor in the middle of the room and started reaching under her jacket for things.

The sound of cautious footsteps came to her ears as she was putting to one side what looked like a red laptop bag with black handles. “Guildmaster?”

“Hm?” Maria looked up and saw Sixer standing in the doorway. “Hey, Sixer. What’s up?”

Sixer hesitated at the question. “Do you…require assistance?”

“With doing inventory of my stuff, you mean?” Maria set a stack of mostly-red devices off to the side, the familiar PokeDex she’d used to summon Jewels and the others sitting on top.

Sixer nodded. “You said you had a lot of items…without extra hands, it would take some time, wouldn’t it?”

Maria paused. “Are you…saying you’d like to help?”

If this was the closest they were going to get to Sixer having a free will of his own and _willingly_ jumping in to do something, Maria was going to take it and run with it.

“I-if you think you require it – if you don’t, I can—“

“No, no, it’s okay, Sixer.” Maria held up a hand, stopping him from continuing. “If you’re up for helping me with this, I’m not against it; having a little company while I do this might be a good thing, actually.” She smiled a little. “I just didn’t want to press you into anything you didn’t feel like doing, that’s all.”

Sixer’s stance relaxed, and he stepped into the room and sat down across from her, looking over the stacks of books and devices curiously.

“I haven’t started counting things yet,” Maria explained. “I’m just getting things out for now, to look things over.” She put one hand on a stack of journals. “These are recordings of all the places I’ve been, down to the minor details. Everything that I don’t throw into these two—“ She pulled out two journals with red covers, one with a globe and the other with a phoenix on the cover. “—ends up in the rest of the volumes.”

Sixer looked at the books with a wide-eyed curiosity that Maria couldn’t help but grin at. “How…how many?”

“Hm?”

“How many worlds have you been to?”

Maria paused in the middle of pulling an orange backpack out from under her jacket. “Um…you know, it’s been a while since I’ve really sat down and counted. There’s quite a few, though. Now you’ve got me curious – I’ll have to sit down and go through my memories and count how many I’ve been to. When I’m done taking inventory on my stuff.”

Sixer nodded.

“Why do you ask?” Maria set the backpack aside and started pulling out sacks with the shapes of berries embroidered on the sides.

Sixer blinked at the question, tilting his head slightly. His tails drifted back and forth behind him, like there was an unseen wind pushing them. The movement was almost mesmerizing.

“I…I’m curious?” He didn’t quite sound sure of himself. When Maria’s curious look persisted, he shook his head and shrugged. “The Dark Arms came after you for a reason. Maybe the key to why they did before is in the past?”

Maria blinked a couple times. “You mean, maybe they came across what I’d done before and that got them to cause the – the World Collision?”

Sixer blinked. “They chose you for a reason. It would…make sense.”

He was _using his head._

As glad as Maria was that Sixer was actually thinking and coming up with things of his own accord, the idea that the Dark Arms could have been spying on her long before the events of the World Collision was worrisome. Although, considering the fact that those monsters were _also_ coming after her again thanks to Cipher and a bounty on her head….

“That might be something worth looking into,” Maria agreed. “Later. I’d like to see if I have anything gift-worthy in my subspace first.”

Sixer nodded. “Of course.” His voice – which had been somewhat quiet – became softer.

Was he…trying to break through more? In his own way?

Maria hoped so. She hadn’t seen him smile yet, or show any emotion that could be considered positive. Not counting the crazed laughter he’d exhibited only a week prior. The emotions were _there,_ he was just…not sure how to use them.

Just because Lien made sure that he wasn’t going to cry at the slightest flicker of emotion didn’t mean he was fully used to them again. He needed time.

And time was what Maria intended to give him.

It took a while for her to empty out her subspace. Despite the fact that she had almost limitless space in that pocket dimension, she didn’t really keep all that much in there.

Then again….

“I hadn’t realized that I was carrying so much old tech with me,” Maria commented, looking over the pile of laptops and touch screen devices. She’d dropped it all on the couch behind her, and it had taken up two of the three cushions. “McGucket might like something from that…maybe I can do a hard reset on some of those if that hasn’t happened already and give the kids something to mess with. I mean, it’s not like I _need_ to use laptops and stuff like that anymore.”

She noticed Sixer looking around the room with a somewhat wide-eyed expression. Large sacks filled with berries, stacks of journals empty and full of notes on worlds and cultures and events from across dimensions – both Maria’s and ones that were not her own – and various other tools and trinkets that she had picked up over the course of her travels that still looked as pristine as the day they had been picked up. Everything was scattered around the living room, taking up whatever space there was to be taken up.

It was a mess, but it was Maria’s mess. Now she just had to figure out what to do with all of it.

“Okay.” Maria folded her arms across her chest, frowning. “Let’s see…what to do for Christmas presents…”

“Guildmaster, how can you carry this much and not notice the weight?”

“Hm?” Maria blinked. “Oh – subspace pockets don’t have any weight to them. They’re basically pocket dimensions you can access to store things. I think the theory goes that everyone has one, but not everyone has easy access to them. I had to learn how to access mine from my cousin, who figured it out on his own.” She smiled a little, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Besides, I have other things to worry about besides the weight of my material wealth.”

Sixer’s expression shifted a little.

Maria looked around the room again. “I’m gonna start with the things I want to keep. My journals are a definite start.”

She started grabbing the first stack of journals next to her, taking the books one at a time and throwing them under her jacket. Each one disappeared before it could hit the floor. They were gone in a matter of moments, leaving a clear space on the floor where the stacks of books used to be. There were five left behind – blank ones, of different colors.

“Hm.” Maria picked up a burgundy one. “I’ll write down the stuff for Gravity Falls in this one, I think. Later, though.” She tossed that into her jacket as well. “Now for the rest of this stuff.”

Sorting through everything else took more time than Maria expected at first. There was a lot of things scattered throughout the room, most of it being odd trinkets that Maria had picked up over the course of her travels. Her own version of souvenirs, some of them impossible to find under other circumstances.

“Guildmaster, what’s in the crate?” Sixer nodded to the wooden box Maria was leaning against.

“Hm?” Maria glanced back. “Oh, that?” She shifted to one side, showing the mark that was on the crate – a skull and crossbones with a straw hat sitting on top. “It’s a carton of alcohol made from the berries. I don’t get drunk, so I haven’t really had an interest in drinking it.” She paused. “It…might be interesting to see what Stanley thinks of this, actually. I’ll see about asking him about it later, maybe. Or keep them for a gift later, one of the two.”

She saw Sixer’s eyes go wide as the crate disappeared behind her in a flash, leaving only sparkles behind that quickly faded. She chuckled at the look on his face. “Yeah, that happens if I put anything that big into my subspace. Or bigger; I’ve done that a couple times.”

“…could you teach me?”

“Hm?” Maria blinked a couple times. “You mean – teach you how to get into your subspace pocket?”

Sixer nodded.

“I don’t see why not. We’re gonna have to do it later, though, I think…if that’s okay with you, I mean.”

Sixer held up his hands in a placating sort of gesture. “Whatever you think is best, Guildmaster.”

Maria bit her lower lip at his response, but nodded. “Okay.”

Eventually, the room was cleaned up of trinkets and old tech – well, old in Maria’s opinion – and left feeling even more empty than it had been when they’d started.

Maria was sure all the furniture that was _supposed_ to be in the room was there, though.

“Glad that’s done,” Maria commented. She stretched her arms above her head and grunted. “It’s been a couple centuries since I’ve gone over everything like that; it probably needed to be done.”

Sixer blinked. “Can’t you keep track of the contents of your subspace without needing to go through it, Guildmaster?”

Maria blinked at the question as she lowered her arms. “Well…technically, yes. But it’s in the principle of the thing. As much as I am currently robotic, I…I like being human. It’s who I _was,_ before all this. So I try to hold onto the little things.”

Sixer blinked again. Maria wondered if he understood what she was getting at, but then she saw his expression shift slightly.

“…I think I see a little better now why Crescent held onto acting so much like he always did, even when in the forms of others,” Sixer said quietly.

Maria’s expression morphed as well, and she sighed at the same volume. “Everything’s going to be all right eventually. We just…we need more time than we have.”

Sixer nodded.

**Time Break**

The rest of December was…interesting, in Maria’s opinion.

Because of all the end-of-year holidays that the people of Gravity Falls threw together, it became a colorful chaotic mess of tradition upon tradition that changed depending on the day – or even depending on the _hour_ of the day. The Pines were encouraged to lead the Hanukkah celebrations because it was _their_ tradition, and the Mabels took to it with more enthusiasm than Maria had ever seen in them.

Maria found herself swept up in the festivities, not knowing each celebration at an intimate level because of her own upbringing – as she told Tyler and the rest of town the first night of some celebration, she had been raised in a Christian household with only vague knowledge of the other kinds of celebrations that could be had around the world.

Which meant that Maria ended up getting a crash course in _everything._

Kawanza. Festivus. Candlenights. Hanukkah. Every sort of celebration traditions, past and present – with the nasty, not child-friendly bits taken out, of course – hit every single night in December, with parents exempt some nights just to make sure their kids didn’t get involved and end up waking up late for school the next morning.

It was a wild, crazy time, but Maria found it quite worth it.

Especially when it came to the gift-giving – mostly because _she_ was giving things to others that used to have sentimental value to her. Or still did, but she felt had better places to be.

“Are ya sure ya want me ta have this?” Fiddleford looked over the old touchscreen cell phone that Maria gave him one night for Hanukkah. “What if ya need ta contact people?”

“I’ve got an internal comm system; I’ll be all right,” Maria replied. “Besides, this is an old model, and it’s seen more wear than any phone ever _should._ I figure you can use the tech for something still, maybe see how something from another dimension fares in comparison to anything that exists here.”

“Ya mean this came from another dimension?!”

Maria laughed at his reaction while Stanley lifted up one of the beer bottles that had been sitting in his box.

“Heck kinda drink is this?” Stanley asked. “Some kinda fruity beer?”

“It’s made from those berries – you know, the trees I planted out in the woods?” Maria called back. “As much as they are used for healing properties, they apparently can cause some _wild_ results when mixed with alcohol. Since I don’t _get_ drunk, I figured that you’d be interested in trying some.”

Stanley grinned, as did his counterparts, who _also_ were given a mix of various types of Berry beer. “Don’t mind if I do.”

 **“Where’d ya get this stuff from, kid?** ” asked the hulking, muscular demon that was Andrew, Mizar’s Stanley.

“A dimension where I joined a group of pirates for a while,” Maria replied. “We made friends with a barkeep who experimented with some things from my orchard. She left me instructions to make more, too, if I ran out.”

Stanley blinked. “…Fidds, how good are ya at buildin’ a still?”

Fiddleford scratched his chin. “Depends, do ya want moonshine or somethin’ else?”

Stanley grinned. “I’d love ta see what else we can make with that stuff when we get a steady supply. Build whatever ya want; _I_ just want ta taste test everythin’ that comes out of it.”

Stanford snorted. “You don’t know what you’re getting into.”

“Too late!” Fiddleford cackled. “Expect it when the weather warms up!”

Maria chuckled. “I’ll see about maybe replicating some of Shakky’s work then. I look forward to it.”

“Guildmaster?”

Maria turned and looked over at Sixer, who was looking back at her with a confused expression.

“Why are you giving _me_ this?” He held up a circular badge with a pair of wings, and a glowing red gem in the center. “I…I never joined your Guild officially; why—“

“I wanted to give you one when I first met you,” Maria replied. “That badge would have let me stay in contact with you, just to make sure things went okay on your end. Since you’re calling me Guildmaster still, I figured that I might as well make it a bit more official.” She grinned. “You can consider yourself a part of the PokeExplore Guild now, Sixer.”

Sixer’s eyes went wide.

“PokeExplore?” Mabel repeated. “What kind of a Guild is that?”

“One made up of creatures that look like normal animals with superpowers based on elements. We went around and helped others and saved the world a few times.” Maria rubbed the back of her head, looking somewhat sheepish. “It was the second time I was away from home; I was one of the founding members.”

“That is so _cool!”_

Sixer looked down at the badge with a wide-eyed expression. Maria knew that his family would get other pins themselves, and would likely have similar reactions to Sixer when they learned what it _meant_ to be a part of her Guild.

She considered it something of a hidden inner circle outside of the Pokémon dimension it originated in. Vash and Knives were already members, as well as a scattering of others that Maria had befriended over the course of her time traveling across dimensions.

The Guild Badges had been slipped into the rest of the Pines’ gifts as well. It’s just that Sixer was the first to get his for Hanukkah.

And then came Christmas itself.

 


	32. Christmas

Maria had a few presents sitting in her subspace that she still wanted to give, even after Hanukkah and all the other festivities. While the pins had been given out already– and had been met with varying reactions from the Pines and Fiddleford (who of course wanted to take his apart to see how it worked as a tracker/communicator) – Maria had saved what she felt were the best presents for Christmas.

She’d given Fiddleford his wrapped gift a few days before, with instructions to not open it until Christmas. The box she’d given him held more binders and folders filled with notes on weaponry and technologies that had been invented in her home dimension, later used as the advanced tech her Earth came to know intimately.

It’s just that they would never intimately know the creator, Maria’s cousin, Joshua.

The tech itself was going to be given to the Fords – most of them, anyway. She still hadn’t met Mizar’s Grunkle Ford, aka Journal.

Maria had her suspicions as to why, but she wasn’t going to be able to confirm them unless she saw Journal face to face. Which – hopefully – was going to be sometime soon.

Alcor still needed to fulfill his end of the deal. Sixer _did_ have his emotions back, and he was slowly relearning how to use them. Now Maria and he had to figure out what Pyronica could possibly be weak to.

But regardless of what _needed_ to be done regarding the end of next summer, there were other things that were going on that needed Maria’s focus for the moment.

So when she woke up Christmas morning prepared to pull the last few gifts out of her subspace – and also thinking about Alcor at the back of her mind – she was thrown off by the stack of presents that were sitting directly in front of her.

“What the heck?”

“You’re awake!” Vash grinned widely from where he was sitting in Stanley’s armchair. “Merry Christmas, Maria! How’d you get all your presents around to the other Shacks last night when you were asleep in here?”

“What?” Maria blinked in confusion. “But I – the only gift I dropped off before Christmas was Fiddleford’s! The rest _should_ be in my subspace.”

She reached under her jacket, focusing specifically on getting her gift to Vash...

…only to come back with nothing.

“What? But – that’s…that’s weird.” Maria frowned. “They shouldn’t have gotten out of my subspace…no one can pull things out of there _except_ for me. So how does that work?”

Vash shrugged. “Maybe Santa Claus did something?”

Maria blinked. “Since when can Santa Claus get into a person’s personal pocket dimension?”

“I have my suspicions about that.”

Maria turned and saw Stanford standing in the doorway leading into the kitchen.

“Considering some of the myths that I’ve read pertaining to the man’s _existence,_ I have reason to believe that the being children call Santa Claus has an entirely different origin than what we are led to believe in media. And that origin has allowed him access to a great amount of knowledge that no mortal will ever be able to gain – all because he gave up an eye.” Stanford tapped one side of his head. “Although, I haven’t been able to meet the man face-to-face in order to find proof that he is actually Odin.”

Maria spluttered. _“Odin_ got in my subspace?!”

“More than likely, yes. I wouldn’t recommend dwelling on it, however – we have other things to think about today.” Stanford smiled a little, then turned and walked out of the room. “We’re meeting over at Mizar’s to unwrap everything together.”

Maria and Vash exchanged looks, then quickly grabbed armfuls of presents and rushed after Stanford, out across the snow-covered clearing, and over to the slightly-darker Shack that Mizar and her family called home.

Unlike the last time Maria had been inside – when it had been dark and gloomy and she had shaken Alcor’s hand for help concerning Pyronica – the inside of the house was brightly lit and felt more warm and homey than dangerously imposing.

And everyone was scattered around a Christmas tree that looked like it could _not_ have fit through the doorway.

“Is it just me or is this room bigger than it normally is?” Maria asked as she stepped inside.

“It is!” Mizar confirmed cheerily. “You got the presents Santa Claus left?”

“Yeah.” Maria carefully moved around Stan and Ford, nodding to Sixer as she passed him and stopped next to the giant stack of presents in front of the Christmas tree. She shook her jacket out as Vash dropped his armful of presents off, and the gifts she had stuffed into her subspace came tumbling out and joined the small mountain. She looked around the room, counting the people who were there.

As far as _she_ could tell, everyone was present except for Mizar’s version of Ford. Journal, was it?

There was a bookshelf in the back of the room she hadn’t noticed the first time she’d been in this particular Shack. Perhaps he was keeping himself hidden there.

Maria moved back over to Sixer and sat down next to him. He was looking at the pile of presents curiously, as though he wasn’t sure what to make of the stack. He’d been getting presents pretty consistently, though, so maybe it was the _number_ of gifts that was throwing him off?

“So, how are we gonna do this?” Maria asked.

“We were discussing that before you arrived,” Sphinx replied from where he was lounging near the back of the group. Star was sitting in front of him, leaning against his side as one wing was unfurled in front of her. The position almost looked like a protective one. “I _believe_ the plan is for the gifts to be handed out, and we just go open them all at once.”

“Well, in that case, we’d better get these handed out, right?” Maria reached for the pile of presents and started passing them around. “Stanley…Stanford…Dipper…Mabel….Alex…Alex…Stanford…Stan…Andrew…Mizar….”

About halfway through, Maria realized that all the gifts were labeled with the nicknames that all of the Pines had given each other – and gained upon their arrival.

And that most of the gifts didn’t have any title that said who they were _from._ Some of them did say her name or the names of some of the townsfolk – mostly Fiddleford – but the rest were left blank.

And while Maria, Sixer, Crescent, Pine, and Star had smaller stacks of presents than the rest, most – if not all of them – had left the “from” spot on the tags blank.

…did that mean they were from Odin, like Stanford had suggested?

Once the presents had been handed out, Mizar pushed the pile of presents for her Grunkle Journal back towards the bookcase. “Come on, Grunkle Journal! You probably got a ton of books!”

Something in the bookcase rattled, and a journal with the familiar six-fingered sigil worked itself out of the bookshelf and fell to the floor.

Maria’s eyebrows rose as the book threw itself open, and the pages rose from the binding into a humanoid shape that vaguely resembled a Ford.

Except that this one was flat, and had no discernable facial features beyond the pair of glasses that manifested around where eyes _should_ be. The glasses flashed immediately, hiding what might have been behind them.

**-I do not doubt that I have been gifted with knowledge-**

The reverberating voice that hit Maria’s head caused her to wince a little. There was a sense of…foreboding, about Journal somehow. Likely because he was a demon, but at the same time—

He was likely a knowledge demon specifically, like Cipher sometimes liked to make himself out to be. Except that Journal actually _was_ such a demon _._

Maria hoped that didn’t mean he was going to be interested in trying to suck her mind dry in order to get every bit of knowledge that she might hold.

She decided to turn her attention to the small pile of gifts instead, then picked up the first that had the giver unnamed. Wrapping paper was carefully removed and cast aside, and the box was opened.

Maria’s breath caught. “No way….”

Sixer looked up from the box he was about to open, ears twitching as a Mabel squealed from across the room. “What is it?”

Maria reached into the box and pulled out what looked like a DVD box set.

“ _Jonny Quest?_ ” Stan leaned over, frowning as his one eye scanned the cover. “That sounds…kinda familiar, actually.”

Maria jolted a little when she heard him. She nodded absently. “This is…this is the _exact_ series collection that Mom and Dad had…back home…I thought it’d gotten destroyed when—“

_When the Dark Arms had killed them._

She turned the box on its side and saw “MC” written on it in sharpie. Her dad’s initials. The fact that the box set had “Director’s Cut” on the bottom rang a few bells in her head as well.

“This is one of Mom and Dad’s World Jumps.”

“Huh?” Stan frowned. “Whaddaya mean by that?”

“World Jumpers sometimes get recordings of their adventures made, if it’s based in a world they are used to seeing as fiction. _Jonny Quest_ was one of their adventures, but it wasn’t their first one I don’t think.”

Maria stared at the packaging for a moment longer, then set it aside and started tearing the other boxes open.

 _Scooby-Doo: Zombie Island:_ Director’s Cut _._ Final Fantasy VII: The Animated Movie. These and others were quickly uncovered from the wrapping paper and tissue paper. Some of the disk sets looked a little more beaten up than others, but they were whole.

They’d survived whatever the Dark Arms had done when they’d dragged her parents out into the street in order to find out where she was.

“I…I never got a chance to look at these properly, much less _watch_ them.” Maria looked at the small stack with an expression of awe. “We…we never got the chance. Every opportunity I _had_ got pulled out from under me because I had to go to another world and help them solve their troubles. I…I don’t even know if Liz got to see these. I haven’t seen her since before the World Collision.”

“It sounds like you’ve recovered something important,” Stanford said.

“Yeah.” Maria looked down at the items in her hands. Family heirlooms, they may as well have been.

A part of her wished that her parents were still alive so that they could offer commentary on their own actions.

Sixer made a noise next to her, and Maria turned her head slightly—

\--only for her gaze to widen sharply when she saw what Sixer was holding in his hands.

“…how?” Maria asked in a hushed tone. There was awe in her voice. “How could those have survived, much less gotten here?!”

In Sixer’s hands, singed but none the worse for the wear, were three familiar books, with gold at the corners and a deep red color for the covers.

“I…I don’t…” Sixer shook his head slowly, then looked over at where Pine was sitting in front of a pot. The alien plant within it seemed to have his focus – for the moment. “Pine.”

Pine looked up, and Sixer held up his journals.

Sixer made a noise that Maria had to take a second to translate. It sounded at first like he had coughed, but when he made the sound _again_ Maria realized he was attempting to _laugh._

“What were the odds, do you think?” Sixer asked.

Pine’s eyes were wide, as were the eyes of the others in the room. “Impossible… he – he _burned_ those.”

“He always does,” Stanford replied. “But they usually come back when Weirdmageddon is reversed. How could you have them _now?_ ”

“Who got you those?” Maria reached for the box and grabbed the tag still hanging onto the wrapping paper.

The giver’s name was blank.

“…no sender.” Maria frowned. “But then…that’d mean—“

“Santa Claus did that?!” Mabel gasped loudly. “But – how did he—“

“I doubt we’ll ever know all his secrets,” Stanford replied while Sixer started paging through his journals quickly. “That doesn’t mean that I don’t intend to ask him if I ever get the chance to see him.”

“Especially if he’s giving us things that we’d thought we’d _lost,”_ Maria commented. She pulled away from Sixer’s box, the movement causing him to look up from his journal for a moment. His gaze moved to the three still-wrapped boxes that were sitting next to him, and he slowly put the journals aside before opening them.

Maria, seeing that he was moving on to his other gifts, looked at the collections of DVDs that were just waiting to be watched, then sighed and set them aside before opening the next box—

\--only to blink in surprise. “This is a…DVD player? Looks like the model that we had back at home…”

There was a note attached to the box. _“Everything is dimension-locked. You’re going to need this.”_

“Oh. Uh…I guess that makes sense…”

The other gifts ended up being more writing utensils – she was going to need them for her journal – and a packet of papers that had her name on the front.

“…what is this?” Maria took the envelope that had her name written on it off the packet and opened it carefully.

She read the note inside – then did a double-take.

“What is it?” Sixer asked.

“Could you read it aloud?” Mabel asked. “If you don’t want to, that’s—“

Maria started reading before Mabel finished speaking.

“To Maria, known as Flare-Up by Cybertronians, Fire Storm by pirates, and World Jumper and its variations by the rest of the worlds you have traversed, I give you this.

“Your life, irrevocably changed as it is, has changed many others for the better. But the ones you touched the most are the ones you were forced to leave behind as time moved forward in your home. The gifts I have given you are a portion of what I have – so far – managed to salvage. Included in the last package this year is a recorded history I have found written by someone outside of your multiversal access. It does not tell of your current endeavors quite yet, although I believe that will be out in the open soon as well. Your story is touching other worlds, and you deserve to know how.

“I will continue to restore that which you have lost to the creatures known as Dark Arms, which are lost to time and space and are both here and not here at the same time. Keep your wits about you, Dimension Walker, and continue to do what you have.

“For in order to save the many, sometimes you must focus first on saving the few.

            --Odin.”

Maria lowered the note, wide-eyed and a little shell-shocked.

“…well, that confirms who the gifts are coming from.” Stan looked at Ford, who nodded in agreement

“There are people writing _fanfiction_ about me,” Maria said. She sounded breathless.

“What, seriously?” Stanley frowned. “Yer kidding, right?”

Maria looked down at the packet of papers and pulled out the first page.

A simple title page, but it said _everything._

_Maria’s Adventures: A Compilation of Stories by FourthWallBreaker/CrossingTheFourthWall/crossroadsdimension._

“This is incredible,” Maria said in amazement. “I didn’t think that anyone was able to write something like this, much less that I’d get to actually _see_ it. Incredible.”

“So is this stuff that’s made up about you that never really happened or—“

“No, it’s the actual events.” Maria looked at Stan with a wide grin crossing her face. “I’ll have to look it over later more thoroughly – it’s going to be interesting, getting an outsider’s perspective on what I’ve done. But later.” She set the package aside.

“…Guildmaster…?”

Maria blinked at Sixer’s hesitant tone, then turned her head and looked at him curiously. “What is it, Sixer?” A frown crossed her face a moment later when she saw that he was nervous. “Is something wrong?”

Sixer jolted a little at the question. “No, no, it’s just – I’m…” He paused, looking like he wasn’t quite sure of what he needed to say.

“When you…when you first introduced yourself, you said your name and then your title.” Sixer paused again. “Is it…is it all right to refer to you by your name?”

Maria felt like a form of tension had suddenly settled in the room.

“If you would prefer that I don’t, then—“

“Sixer, I gave you my name first _because_ that’s what I was most okay with,” Maria cut Sixer off. He blinked in surprise. “I’ve had the word ‘Master’ roll off my tongue before, and I know that it isn’t pleasant. But at the same time I could guess that you _weren’t_ used to calling someone by their actual name instead of a title, so I offered Guildmaster as an option because that’s the one I’m most used to hearing. If you want to call me Maria, I’m all for it. But if still don’t feel comfortable with the idea of treating me more like an equal, sticking with Guildmaster is fine, too. I’ll answer to both.”

Sixer looked startled at Maria’s words. He looked between her and someone else in the room for a moment, then nodded. “Thank you for…for clarifying…Maria.”

It was clear it took some effort on Sixer’s part, but the fact that he had actually said her _name_ caused Maria to promptly hug the kitsune, pulsing with warmth.

Sixer stiffened in response, then relaxed and leaned intothe hug in response.

This was turning out to be a better Christmas than Maria had hoped for.

**Time Break**

That evening, after everyone had taken their gifts back to their respective Shacks, Maria made her way back to Mizar’s shack. The Mabel in question walked alongside her, taking big steps in order to fit into the footprints left behind in the snow from earlier in the day.

“So, Alcor and Journal said they wanted to talk to me?” Maria frowned. “Why didn’t they do so earlier?”

“Because everyone else was in the room. They probably want you to make a deal with one of them.”

“I made a deal with Alcor already; I’ve been waiting for like a month since Sixer’s emotions started properly coming back to see him fulfill his end of the deal.”

“Then I dunno what they want.” Mizar shrugged as they reached the porch. “Just that they wanted to talk to you.”

“I can guess what Alcor’s got in mind, then, but I’m not so sure about Journal.” Maria frowned. “Hopefully he doesn’t end up sucking out everything that makes me me just because he wants the knowledge I have.”

“What? Pssh, Grunkle Journal’s not gonna do that.” Mizar opened the door. “He copies stuff, he doesn’t outright take it.”

“Oh. Well, that’s…good to know.”

Better to copy than to outright take and leave nothing behind.

Inside, the living room was dark again – well, dim, at least. The lamps were giving off less light than they had been earlier in the day.

The demons probably liked the ambiance it set, because Journal was looming over the room from where he stood near the bookcase, and Alcor was hovering just above one of the chairs in a lounging position.

 **“Good, you’re here.”** Alcor moved into a more upright position. **“Can you guess why we called you in here?”**

“It’s got something to do with that deal we made a few months back involving Sixer getting his emotions back and finding out Pyronica’s weakness in exchange.” Maria paused. “Right?”

 **-He has returned to himself what he’s lost, but there is still more that-** Journal’s glasses glinted. **–His Cipher has left his mark in more ways than one; it will take time for him to fully recover-**

“I know. I don’t expect him to recover overnight and suddenly start acting more like Stanford. That’s pretty much impossible.” Maria shrugged, shaking her head. “I’m amazed that he isn’t holding his emotions back anymore, but he’s still not…showing them very much.”

“He laughed earlier,” Mizar pointed out. “It sounded like he hasn’t done it in a long time, though.”

 **-I doubt he had a reason to-** Journal replied. **–But you have done your end of the deal. However, knowledge of Pyronica and her weaknesses is something _I_ am aware of, not Alcor. He may carry Cipher’s power, but I have the knowledge-**

“…are you saying that I have to make a deal with _you_ in order to figure out how I could even land a hit on Pyronica?” Maria frowned.

 **“Yup.”** Alcor shrugged. **“I mean, I could check with my all-seeing eye, but Puppeteer would notice. It’s easier this way. Besides, I doubt that Grunkle Ford would have made a deal with you, knowledge for knowledge, if you didn’t have something specific you were looking for.”**

Maria eyed Alcor with a cautious look, then looked over at Journal’s looming form. She looked over the papery knowledge demon for a moment. “I don’t have any problem with sharing knowledge in any form. I think the question is, what would be equal to the knowledge of what Pyronica is weak to.”

**-The weakness of another equally powerful creature, naturally-**

“Yeah, but the creatures that I’ve met are kinda…not native to this dimension.” Maria paused. “I think I’ll go with…everything I know about the Dark Arms in exchange for that, since they got Puppeteer to put a bounty on my head, apparently. That should make things even.”

Journal reached forward with a paper-thin, giant hand. **–Very well. Are you prepared?-**

Maria stuck out her own hand in response. “As I’ll ever be.”

**-Good-**

Journal’s paper hand completely enveloped Maria’s, then did something strange. Tendrils of the paper-like material that made up his form extended from the handshake, entwining up Maria’s arm. She felt her vision go hazy, and closed her eyes instinctually to ward off the dizziness.

Something touched the back of her neck, and Maria was instantly pulled into memories so old it felt like she was dusting off cobwebs as she was rushed through them.

She was back in her home dimension, staring in shock as two tall, horned, dark robed figures vaporized her parents into nothing but ash.

Then the World Collision, as they implemented their mind-control tech to force her to pull different worlds together – only for her to fight back when her brother became involved.

 _Matthew._ A part of Maria wanted to go through what she remembered of him as well, but something else pulled her away from her brown-haired, blue-eyed older brother and through the rest of the events that had caused the Dark Arms so much pain: finding out she had become immune to their technology; the tests to see if they could work around it (and their subsequent failures); being locked away in stasis for the day they might have reached a breakthrough without breaking their own equipment.

Myra. Rescue and subsequent repairs. Fighting back.

Reaching the Dark Arms’ stronghold…and setting off the Continuum Shift that completely reset that part of the Multiverse.

And then, abruptly, she’s pulled forward to the present – or, a few months ago. The day she learned the Dark Arms were still around, and had put a bounty out on her head through Sixer’s Cipher.

As the memories faded, leaving Maria in a somewhat confused limbo, something else started to take its place.

Fire – not the type of fire she was used to, but more demonic and sharp. Pyronica stood before her, grinning a maniacal grin that Maria didn’t like the look of.

Rain. Pyronica flinched at it, but she still stood tall despite it.

And then the rain started glowing with an unseen power. Maria thought she could _almost_ hear a choir singing.

Pyronica screamed in pain, and the vision vanished.

Maria let out a gasp as her vision cleared, bringing her back to the dim living room as Journal pulled his hand back.

**-Interesting-**

Maria shook her arm out. It felt like there were pins and needles crawling up from her fingers to the base of her neck. “Was that…holy water? That’s her weakness? It seems a bit cliché.”

 **-Sometimes the most obvious weaknesses are the strongest-** Journal replied. **–And the ones most overlooked-** He started retreating back to the bookcase. **–The knowledge you have given me shows just how dire this situation is. I find it likely that your presence here come next summer will attract attention you would rather not have-**

Maria’s expression became grim, while Alcor and Mizar exchanged confused looks. “Yeah; I could guess as much. I guess the question is now how to get my hands on enough to weaken her to that point….”

 **“Don’t ask me, I can’t reach into a church to grab it.”** Alcor held up his hands.

Maria snorted. “No, I’m not gonna make you do that. I’ll probably head to a church at some point myself and see if I can get my hands on some. I need to get more unicorn hair from the forest at some point anyway; it’ll probably happen pretty soon after New Year’s.”

Alcor and Mizar nodded.

“For now, though, I’m gonna enjoy the rest of 2014 while it lasts – in this dimension, that is. A few days of quiet before everything picks up speed is gonna be nice.” She paused. “And…I’ve got some catching up to do with the stuff my parents left behind.”

“You go do that,” Mizar encouraged. “It sounds like you really need to reconnect.”

 


	33. January

January. The one month out of all the winter months that didn’t have anything important happening holiday-wise.

As soon as New Year’s celebrations were wrapped up – with Maria being the only one to not get drunk, despite the bets that the Stans had going against her – Maria set her sights on a few goals that needed to be taken care of before that particular day in summer.

“I’m heading out to talk to the unicorns,” Maria announced to Stanford and Stanley a week and a half into January. “We need that unicorn hair if we can protect the town from whatever it is that he’s going to be up to. Deals and all that, right?” She paused when she noticed their stares. “We did talk about doing something like that when Tyler was here last.”

“…we did,” Stanford said slowly. “You’re still intent on it?”

“Well, it’s the best way to protect people from his weirdness when he gets here,” Maria replied. “I mean, you don’t want people turning into random pieces of furniture or anything like that, right?”

“Didn’t Soos say something about his Abuelita turnin’ inta an arm chair?” Stanley asked.

Stanford stiffened.

“Every little bit helps,” Maria said. “So I’m gonna head out there and see what I can do about that. I know their tricks with the scams, so I can bounce that right back at them if they bring it up.”

“You’re going to need someone to come with you to recite the druidic chant that will bring their land out into the open,” Stanford said. “Unless you can modulate your voice into something deep in order to cover that.”

“I think I can; haven’t done it before, though.” Maria frowned a little. “But…what if they _moved?_ After what Mabel did in going to find them, I mean.”

Stanford frowned. “Hm…that would be a problem, wouldn’t it? And I doubt they’re going to be easy to reach in this weather…”

“Why don’t ya just ask Mabelcorn for some of _her_ hair?” Stanley asked. He looked over the two of them with an annoyed sort of gaze. “I mean, she _is_ technically a unicorn; I wouldn’t be surprised if her hair works too.”

Maria’s eyes widened. “Oh, yeah….” She felt a bit sheepish for forgetting about that.

“She’s a unicorn _centaur,_ Stanley, there’s a little bit of a difference there.” Stanford frowned. “Which, unfortunately, means that the potency of its magical affects are diluted; we would need more than what the spell requires in order to make a strong barrier. And I doubt that Mabelcorn would be willing to shave her entire head in order to do what needs to be done.”

“Oh.” Stanley blinked. “Okay then. So what, Maria goes and punches some unicorns?”

“With words first.” Maria raised a finger. “If it comes to blows, I’ll hit them with a stun shot and take things from there.”

“A what now?”

Maria ignored Stanley’s question. “I guess it’s just a matter of asking around to see if they’ve moved and – if they haven’t – seeing if I can get _in._ Addressing the fact that we’re going to be having problems with Cipher is an entirely different ball game that I’ll hit when I get to them, but—“

A Mabel suddenly zoomed into the kitchen and came to a stop. “Maria! We got problems!”

Maria looked over with an expression of confusion, think blinked when she saw the maple leaf on the sweater. “Maple? What is it?”

“Grunkle Sixer’s fur is _terrible!_ He’s got knots and mats and – and _they haven’t been brushed._ ” Maple looked downright horrified at the idea.

Maria’s eyes widened. “Oh geez. That’s gotta hurt.”

“Yeah! I asked him if I could help him get the knots out and he said to ask you and – please? Will you help?” Maple’s eyes were wide and pleading.

Maria didn’t need to think for even a moment. “Of course I will! I should have seen this sooner, honestly, and I’m going to rectify my mistake before it becomes anything beyond that.” She started for the door, then paused. “Hang on – what were you intending to brush him _with?”_

Maple blinked at the question, then fidgeted a little. “Um—“

“You were going to use your own hairbrush, weren’t you?”

“…maybe?”

Maria sighed. “I should have expected that. It’s not like you’ve got access to anything else.” She reached under her jacket and pulled out a ratty orange backpack that looked like it had seen better days. “Come on; let’s go make sure Sixer doesn’t have to deal with his tails as they are for much longer. After that, I’m gonna go find the unicorns.”

“Thank you thank you thank you!”

Maple promptly grabbed Maria’s hand and dragged her across the snow and into the other Shack, heading straight into the living room.

Sixer was sitting sideways on one end of the couch, leaning against the part of the back where it started to form the armrest. His tails were spread across the rest of the couch, and now that Maria was really looking at them, she realized that Maple was right.

Tufts of fur were sticking up in places they shouldn’t have been, and despite the fact that the tails looked _clean,_ they didn’t look like they were well-kept.

And the look on Sixer’s face was…

…well, if Maria had to pin an emotional word to it, she would _have_ to pick _miserable._

It honestly made her feel stupid for not having thought that this might become a problem.

“Hey, Sixer.” Maria moved into his line of view. She didn’t know if this was a “Guildmaster” day or a “Maria” day, but she got the feeling that she was going to find out soon enough.

Sixer glanced up and gave a small nod in greeting.

“Maple told me what’s going on. If you’re willing, I can help get the knots out, but I don’t think it’s going to feel very pleasant.”

Sixer blinked, then turned his gaze away. His tails, which were taking up a cushion and a half of space on the couch, shifted a little. “Do what you must.”

Must be a “Guildmaster” sort of day, then.

Maria nodded, then sat down on the couch and moved Sixer’s tails so that she could sit among them without being on top of them. The backpack was dropped onto the couch next to her, and she unzipped the largest pocket and reached in up to her elbow.

“How deep are the pockets in that?” Maple looked at Maria with a wide-eyed expression.

“Almost bottomless. But it does have its limits, unlike the subspace pocket.” Maria pulled out a clear plastic, flexible case that had a number of brushes, combs, and cloths jumbled together. “Think of it like a…a Bag of Holding, I guess.”

Sixer’s ears perked up while Maple looked confused.

“A bag of what?”

“It’s a bag that’s used in a certain math-based tabletop game that can carry things without needing to worry about the weight capacity. It does have a limit to how much it can hold, though.” Maria grabbed one of the combs and started dragging it through Sixer’s fur.

It didn’t take her long to hit the first clump of tangled fur. Not only did it stop the comb short, the comb became tangled _in_ it.

“Oh geez, this is bad,” Maria muttered. Her expression shifted. “This is probably gonna hurt a bit Sixer, not gonna lie.”

He shifted slightly on the couch. Maria got the impression that he was bracing himself.

And he had every reason to, as the next few minutes were painful – to Sixer and Maria as a proxy, as she winced as she tugged on the fur in order to get the clump removed. Eventually, the clump in question was removed from its place in Sixer’s fur with a grunting noise from Maria. She looked at the clump, then over at Sixer.

Apparently, Sixer had been watching with a pained expression. His eyes were wide as he looked between the fur and Maria.

“We’re not done by a long shot, I’m afraid,” Maria said. She gave him an apologetic look. “You think we should keep going or take a bit of a break?”

Sixer blinked, the pained expression fading slightly. “Wouldn’t it…be better, if we made sure this didn’t happen again?”

“Are you sure you want to do all six tails and go through all that at once?”

Sixer shrugged. “I’ve felt worse, Guildmaster. I’m prepared.”

Maria winced, as did Maple, who was sitting on the floor watching with a worried expression. “Well…all right. If you insist.”

“Do you think I could help?” Maple asked. “To – to make this go faster, I mean.”

“Yeah, sure – hang on, I’ve got another brush in here….” Maria reached in and pulled out a brush with thick, clear bristles. “I’m looking for the big snags with this one; think you can go back over and look for the smaller ones with this?”

“Sure!” Maple took the other brush and carefully moved around and under the tails in order to sit next to Maria. “Everything’s gonna be better soon, Grunkle Sixer!”

Sixer eyed the both of them with a cautious expression. Maria got the feeling he wasn’t entirely sure what to make of the situation.

Maria and Maple exchanged looks, then got to work, combing out the larger snares in Sixer’s fur and brushing out the smaller ones. With every pass of Maria’s comb and Maple’s brush, Sixer’s tails started looking less snagged and more straight, with a sheen coming to the fur at every pass of Maple’s brush.

Eventually, Maria switched to a brush – smaller than the one Maple was using, but still used for the same reason. She wasn’t sure how long they had been doing at it, but the pile of fur Maria and Maple had brushed out was in a large mountain in front of the couch. Maria suspected that it would end up filling an entire garbage bag.

That’s when Maria started hearing something…odd, come from somewhere in the room.

Maria paused her movements, blinking. “Maple, do you hear that?”

“Hm?” Maple looked up from the tail she was picking loose fluff from. She frowned. “Yeah…sounds like a motor or…something…” She looked around. “But where’s it coming from?”

Maria could feel the couch vibrating underneath her, so her first guess was that it was something coming from the basement, but as far as she was aware Ford and Stan hadn’t set foot down there since they had come out of her portal in August. Her gaze moved to the other person on the couch, and her eyes widened.

The stress that had been keeping Sixer stiff earlier seemed to have melted out of him. He was more sprawled out, breathing deeply in rest.

He also happened to be _purring._

That was the last noise that Maria was expecting from him, but at the same time there it was – deep and loud like the motor of some small vehicle, and strong enough to make its presence _felt_ just as much as it was _heard._

It was the most relaxing sound Maria had ever heard.

She rested her hands in Sixer’s fur and looked at him with an expression of wonder. “Wow. I didn’t think that kitsune could even _do_ that.” She kept her voice quiet, just in case it disturbed Sixer enough to make him stop.

The floor creaked as a few other figures entered the room – Pine, who looked groggy because of the cooler weather, Star, Crescent, and Sphinx.

“I swear I’m—“ Sphinx stopped and blinked when he saw Maria and Maple sitting on the couch next to the purring Sixer. “Well, this is unexpected.”

Maple motioned at them to keep their voices down. Maria quietly moved her fingers through Sixer’s fur, watching him from the corner of her eye.

Sixer shifted slightly, pulling his feet up onto the couch and curling up a little. Two of his tails curled over him, pulling away from Maple and Maria.

“…has he ever done anything like this before?” Maria looked over at the others.

The look of shock on Crescent’s face was quickly pulled back as she focused on him. She just barely caught sight of his expression. Star and Pine were equally wide-eyed.

Crescent shook his head slowly. “No. He hasn’t _ever_ done that.”

“…really?”

“Yeah.” Crescent stuck his hands in the pockets of his sweatpants. “Isn’t that somethin’ that some animals do, anyhow? Didn’t think I’d hear it from him.”

“I guess he has some instincts that make him act that way.” Maria frowned. “But yeah, cats do this kind of thing. Usually when they’re in a place where they’re in a position of safety, as far as I—“ She cut herself short, eyes widening. “That’s it.”

Maria pulled her hands out of Sixer’s fur and rested them on top of his tail, not digging in. She focused, sending in a pulse of warmth.

The sudden increase in volume of Sixer’s purr felt like confirmation more than anything else.

“Sixer’s guard is down,” Maria said. “Completely. He’s…he’s not expecting anyone to try to get his attention, or make him _do_ anything. He’s…I think this is the most relaxed he’s been in a long time.”

Star and Pine exchanged looks at that; Sphinx looked surprised, but then his expression softened.

“That’s good to hear,” Sphinx said. “It sounds like he trusts you highly, Maria.”

“Yeah.” Maria looked over at Sixer again, watching the even rise and fall of his chest as he continued purring. “He knows he’s safe here. I just…wish I could do more to make sure that this peace is never going to be disrupted.” She sighed and shook her head.

“I heard something about you wanting to go see the unicorns today?” Sphinx asked, frowning.

“You’re going to what?!” Maple looked at Maria with wide eyes.

At the same time, Sixer’s purr spluttered, and he opened an eye and looked over at them.

Maria had really hoped that she could have snuck out of the room without waking Sixer up.

“Why are you going to talk to them? They’re terrible!”

“That may be, but we’re probably going to need more unicorn hair at some point,” Maria replied. She raised an eyebrow. “I’ve got an idea that we could use to _maybe_ protect everyone in town with their own personal barriers. It could help them when the weirdness hits in August.”

Sixer shifted slowly into an upright position, tails shifting away from Maria and Maple.

“What do you mean?” Maple frowned. “And are you _sure_ that they’ll help?”

“I’m pretty sure they will, if they know about the situation and know that I’m not someone who can be scammed so easy.” Maria glanced over at Sixer before looking back at the rest. “I just don’t know if they decided to move or not, considering that they had you guys go and bother them before Weirdmageddon the first time.”

 “I doubt that they’re going to leave ‘the most magical place in the forest’ that easily,” Sphinx replied. “Or that quickly. Beefed up security, perhaps.”

“Will you require backup for this?”

Maria looked over at Sixer at the question, blinking. “Um…I’m not sure. Mostly because I don’t know what the unicorns might do if I show up.”

“It might be a good idea if you take him with you,” Sphinx spoke up. “It will give them some proof as to how dire the situation actually is.”

Maria frowned. She _had_ been thinking about that, but she didn’t want to make Sixer do something he wasn’t really up for.

“As good of an idea as that is…would you be up for something like that, Sixer?” She looked over at him.

Sixer tilted his head slightly, considering. “I…I think I am.”

**Time Break**

The woods were quiet. Snow was all over the place, muffling everything.

Maria felt the snow crunch under her shoes and winced a little with each step. If there was anything out here that attracted sound, it was likely going to be tracking them.

Eventually, they reached the clearing that Maria had gotten a glance at only briefly in the cartoon she had watched so long ago. It felt surreal, seeing it right in front of her.

She frowned. “The unicorns’ home is already up in the open? And it’s…”

The large FOR SALE sign in front of the doors wasn’t what Maria had been expecting.

A gnome toddled past, heading for the dead tree that Maria guessed was the bar. “Dum dum de—huh?” He looked up at Maria and Sixer with confusion. “Who are you two?”

Sixer raised an eyebrow at the question.

“Just a – a couple people passing through,” Maria replied. “Kinda. I heard there were unicorns out here – why is their place _for sale?_ ”

“Oh, that?” The gnome snorted. “They do that every winter; don’t worry about it. They don’t like the cold and want ta move somewhere south, but every time they put that sign up, things keep them from movin.’ Landslides, far too cold to be out in the open, possible apocalypse where the world completely ends an’ none of us can do a thing about it—“ The gnome cut himself off abruptly. He chuckled nervously. “I, uh, probably spoke a bit outta turn there. Don’t mind me.”

The gnome abruptly scampered off into the woods on all fours, leaving Maria and Sixer staring after him blankly.

They exchanged looks.

“Is it possible that the folks in the woods know about…what’s coming next summer?” Maria asked.

Sixer tilted his head slightly. “The Multibear saw us, before. I…suppose that it would not be surprising that they would be watching and aware of some of what had happened.”

“…considering Gravity Falls in general, I probably shouldn’t be surprised,” Maria muttered. She frowned. “Well, if the unicorns are still _here,_ then there’s nothing wrong with going up and knocking. Probably isn’t going to be easy to get more unicorn hair, but…well, they should be aware of what’s coming.”

She walked up to the gilded, glittering doors, and was about to knock when one of the doors was suddenly opened from within and a blue unicorn with a green mane stepped out.

“And what sort of a solicitor are you supposed to be?” he asked with a nasally accent. “Come here to barter then?”

“In a way.” Maria glanced back at Sixer meaningfully. “Look, I’m going to skip right to the point: I don’t know if you know or not, but there’s _another_ disaster coming at the end of next summer. While the Shacks may be protected against it, there are people in town who aren’t.”

The unicorn snorted. “If you think you can walk away with our hair that easily, you clearly aren’t pure of—“

“I know that’s a scam, buddy.” Maria’s eyebrows rose. “We’re talking about the fate of the world here – do you _want_ the apocalypse to happen again and attack you all unprepared?”

The unicorn blinked. “What?”

“There’s a certain triangular beastie out there – a counterpart to the _dead_ one that attacked this dimension – and he’s got his sights set on this place.” Maria poked the unicorn in the nose, causing him to rear back abruptly. “So either we find a way to protect _everyone_ from getting transformed into something else, or we let chaos reign _again_ while we’re trying to rally everyone together to clobber him to a pulp.”

The tenseness in Maria’s voice caused the unicorn to stare at her with a blank expression. For a moment, she thought she’d gone too far and he was going to slam the door shut in her face.

Instead, he started laughing.

“Oh my, I have to say, that is the most amusing lie I’ve heard in a long time! Do you really think that we’re going to have another Weirdmageddon? I highly doubt it.”

“My presence here begs to differ.”

Sixer’s words caused the unicorn to turn his head.

The creature froze. “What? I haven’t seen you here before. Who are you supposed to be?”

Sixer held up a hand, six fingers spread wide. “Who do you think I am?”

The unicorn’s eyes widened. “What? Impossible, I would have remembered –“

“ _Exactly._ ” Sixer strode forward. “The Cipher who is coming destroyed my dimension and used my family to anchor himself to new ones. I believe Maria’s plan is to end that here, considering that she has already rescued us from him.” He glanced over at Maria before looking back at the unicorn. “The situation is more dire than you seem to think it is.”

“I – well – I—“

A white unicorn grabbed the other’s mane and pulled him back, shutting the door behind him.

Maria blinked in surprise. “Um…okay, I wasn’t _completely_ expecting that response.” She looked at Sixer. “Nice jumping in there. I don’t know if I would have gotten far without that.”

Sixer looked somewhat startled at the comment. “I – um…thank you? I don’t know if I can do that again.”

“It’s okay, Sixer.” Maria reached up and rested a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll figure something out.”

At that point, the door opened again, and a white unicorn with a rainbow mane stepped out.

“Did I hear right? You say that fashion disaster is coming again, and you want to protect the entire town?” asked the unicorn.

Maria recognized this particular female voice. She nodded. “I was thinking making bracelets out of hair for everyone to wear, rather than making a barrier around the whole town. Protecting the people is more important than protecting their possessions right now.”

Sixer hovered behind her. While Maria didn’t look back at him, she could see the effect his presence had on Celesteabelleabethabelle. The unicorn visibly hesitated at the sight of the two of them, uncertain.

Then her expression shifted.

“Get everyone together. If that – that thing is coming back, I don’t want to have to deal with it messing up everything all over again.” She glared at something behind her. “I think it’s time we make a new fashion statement.” She looked back at Maria and Sixer. “Expect a package tomorrow morning at the earliest. Good day.”

And with that, she slammed the door in their faces. Again.

Maria frowned. “Hmph. Talk about bad manners.” She looked at Sixer. “Well, I guess that’s all we can do for now. We might as well head back.”

Sixer had a wide-eyed look on his face. “Was it…that easy?”

“We’ll have to wait and see if it was, but…I hope so.”

 


	34. Out and About

Fortunately, “C-Beth” kept her word. The following morning, there was a large box sitting on Stanford’s porch, crammed to the point of _bursting_ with the coveted rainbow-spun hair of the unicorns. The note taped to the top said, “Our debt to the Pines has been repaid, now stop coming to us for our hair.”

“…well, I certainly wasn’t expecting this,” Stanford remarked.

“Think it’ll be enough for the town?” Vash looked over Stanford’s shoulder at the box on the porch.

“And then some! Now we have to talk to Fiddleford and see if he’s possibly made containers for the mercury so that we can use it safely.” Stanford knelt and picked up the box with some difficulty. “How much unicorn hair did they put in here? There must be enough to ring the entire valley twice over!”

Vash moved to the side as Stanford carried the box in. “Are we…able to do that?”

“Well, we _could,_ but then Cipher would be trapped in the valley with us and unable to leave, and I doubt that is something we want.”

“Because then we’re basically trapped in a prison of our own making if we don’t manage to end him,” Maria added. She was sitting on a couch in the living room, having overheard the conversation. “Whoa, that _is_ a lot of unicorn hair.” She rose to her feet as Stanford forced his way through the door and into the gift shop. “Need any help getting that into the basement?”

“I’m fine!” Stanford called back. “But if you want to help, could you go ask Fiddleford if he’s prepared the beads for the mercury yet? We’re going to be needing that soon if we’re going to be able to prevent any invading weirdness from affecting the townsfolk.”

“What are you going to be doing?” Vash followed Stanford into the gift shop, Maria right behind him.

“I’m going to recalculate how much materials are going to be needed for this version of the barrier spell. Since each spell is going to be focused on a single person and not on a stretch of land, I don’t need to use as much of the materials.”

“That makes sense.” Maria nodded as Stanford adjusted his hold on the box in order to get the vending machine to reveal the secret entrance. “Is Knives already down there? I haven’t seen him all morning.”

“He is. He’s been working on adapting a heating system so that the lab isn’t so cold that we need to wear winter coats while we’re working. The original heating system I had has…failed, unfortunately. Stanley’s adjustments weren’t enough to keep it working well this winter.”

Maria winced at Stanford’s reply. “Wow. I hope he isn’t getting frostbite down there; extreme cold is a lot different from extreme heat.”

“He seems to be doing fine for now, but I might send him up soon.” Stanford stepped through the doorway. “Go talk to Fiddleford – please. We have less than eight months until the second Weirdmageddon, and I would like to be prepared long before then.”

Maria nodded in agreement, then looked over at Vash. “You want to come along?”

“Me?” Vash shook his head quickly. “And face the cold out there? No thank you! It feels like I’ll turn into an icicle just thinking about it! Brrrr!” He shivered, hugging himself.

Maria thought he was being a bit overdramatic, but considering that he had come from a desert planet and wasn’t quite used to this much cold, she let him be. “All right. Don’t drink all the hot cocoa in the house again – you know how Mabel gets about that.”

“I’d never!”

Maria snorted and rolled her eyes, then stepped out of the house and into the snow-covered clearing.

Mabel and Mabelcorn ran past, throwing snowballs at each other and laughing as they hit their marks. Dipper and Deerper were nearby, but they weren’t participating yet. The stockpile of snowballs each one had suggested they were ready to go into an all-out war at any moment. Tyrone and Maple were working with their parents on creating what looked like a rather elaborate snow sculpture that didn’t seem to be a specific shape yet, and Mizar had gotten Alcor to become corporeal and was animating snowmen.

Maria remembered a comic her father had let her read – something about a boy with an overactive imagination and his stuffed tiger – and started to make her way out of the clearing and towards town.

“Maria?”

Maria stopped mid-step and glanced over. Sixer was stepping out onto the porch of one of the Shacks, looking curious.

“Where are you heading out to now?” Sixer stepped off the porch and walked over.

“Checking on Fiddleford.” Maria motioned to the driveway that led out of the woods and into town. “Stanford got the unicorn hair and he wanted to know how far along Fiddleford was in making small containers for the mercury that we can use for those barrier bracelets.”

“Oh.” Sixer blinked. “And you…thought you could handle it alone?”

“Well, it’s just going and talking to him as far as I’m aware.” Maria paused. “Unless…do you have anything else to do today?”

Sixer shook his head.

“Do you think you’d be all right in accompanying me through town to Fiddleford’s house?”

Maria didn’t want Sixer to get overwhelmed with walking through town. That many people – not to mention memories of what had _happened_ to the town because of Weirdmageddon – might not be a good idea.

At the same time, she knew that it was going to happen sooner or later.

Sixer looked like he was thinking about it, but he nodded. “I think I’ll be all right with that.”

“All right. But if you feel like coming back here, let me know, okay?”

Sixer nodded.

The two of them trekked across the tamped-down snow from cars, quickly leaving the driveway and onto the main road, where they eventually reached town.

It was the middle of the morning, but it was the weekend. There were people walking briskly from one place to another, bundled up in coats and hats and scarves.

Maria and Sixer were wearing none of that, which got them some strange looks from passers by.

At first.

“Whoa, Maria, what’s with this heat bubble you’ve got?” Wendy came to a stop on the sidewalk and looked at them in amazement. “It’s like I suddenly walked into summer over here.”

“Huh? Oh, that.” Maria rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. “It’s a way for me to keep my internal parts from getting frostbite and freezing up, I suppose. With how I’ve got fire magic, the heat release just…developed naturally. It’s a part of an inherent skillset, not a conscious thing.”

“Huh. That’s awesome.” Wendy nodded. “And you’re actually out and about!”

Sixer blinked in surprise when Wendy suddenly looked in his direction. “Ah…thank you?”

Wendy smirked. “Hey, no need ta be so nervous. One step at a time, right? So where are you guys headed?”

“We’re heading up to Fiddleford’s place,” Maria replied. “Stanford’s busy, but he wanted someone to check in on a few projects.”

“Really? Well, I’d suggest you be careful – the Northwests are at it again.”

Maria frowned at Wendy’s words, but when she pointed up the hill towards the mansion, she saw what the redhead meant.

“What’s with all the vehicles up there?” Maria asked.

“They’ve been trying to find ways to get the mansion back since mid-November,” Wendy explained. “They usually drive up to the mansion with new excuses they _think_ they can use to kick him out and take the place back.”

“You’d think that Preston would at least _consider_ this as the dimension telling him that asking to _join_ Cipher was a bad idea.”

Sixer made a snorting noise in surprise. “He _what?_ ”

Wendy rolled her eyes. “Yeah. Apparently people in town heard him try to swear loyalty and try to become one of Cipher’s Four Horsemen or something.”

The spluttering noise Sixer made at _that_ took a moment for Maria to translate.

Or, more accurately, remember _why_ Sixer would make such a sound.

“…okay, yeah, sounds like he’s gone a bit bonkers,” Maria said flatly.

“He doesn’t know what it _means_ to carry a burden such as that,” Sixer muttered. His tails twitched back and forth, agitated. He shuddered and sucked in a breath, hissing a little as he visibly attempted to regain his composure.

Maria hadn’t quite been expecting that kind of a reaction from Sixer. She knew that his previous position hadn’t been one that he’d liked, but to make a sound like that…

…she was glad that Sixer wasn’t stuck any longer.

Wendy apparently hadn’t been expecting Sixer’s reaction, either. “O…kay, yeah, he probably didn’t. Probably why Cipher rearranged his face instead, but that apparently wasn’t enough to make it stick for him. So Mr. Northwest has been pestering McGucket ever since.”

“But nothing’s come of it?” Maria looked up at the mansion again. It looked like people were running for the black vehicles parked in front of the gates.

“Not so far.” Wendy shrugged. “I’ve heard Pacifica’s given up on trying to get her parents to stop, though. Sounds like they’ve nearly gone over the edge.”

“Is she doing okay?” Maria frowned while Sixer blinked, confused.

“As far as I know, yeah. She’s working over at Greasy’s Diner whenever they’re out doing this – I heard her say something about saving up last time I was there.”

“Ah.” Maria nodded. “Well, I hope she’s okay. With parents that desperate to get their old lifestyle back…I don’t know if I want to be near people quite that desperate.”

“Yeah. You and me both.” Wendy looked back up at the mansion. The crowd of cars that had been up there had disappeared in a cloud of dust down the driveway. “Well, looks like they’re done with their nonsense for now. Hey, you mind if I come up with you? I’m kinda curious about what McGucket’s been doing up there for the last couple of months.”

“I don’t see why not.” Maria shrugged.

Sixer didn’t look like he had any objections to offer, either, and so the three of them set off up the street.

They crossed a street and moved past Manly Dan as he came out of the diner – he grunted a greeting and eyed Sixer with a raised eyebrow – before Sixer spoke up.

“H-how are the other members of the Zodiac?”

The question was sudden enough that it almost made Maria turn around completely.

“What, you mean that wheel thing that didn’t quite work when Cipher came around?” Wendy looked back at him with a raised eyebrow.

Sixer looked a little nervous at the question, but he nodded.

“Well, Robbie’s hanging with Tambry today – I heard something about a movie marathon that Lee and the others weren’t invited to. I’m gonna be going to find them later and see if we can get a town-wide snowball fight going.” Wendy grinned. “It’s too quiet; we need some action up here to keep everyone on their toes.”

Maria nodded in agreement.

“I haven’t heard anything from Gideon recently, which I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. I mean, the kid was a lot of trouble 2 years ago, and his attempts at being a ‘normal’ kid aren’t going to well from what I heard.” Wendy frowned. “I think he’s still got his hands in a criminal underground somewhere, but I haven’t seen any proof of it yet. Yet. I mean, he’s spending time with people he met in prison and is using them as _bodyguards.”_

Oh, yeah. He was still doing that after the finale. Maria made a face at the memory from the cartoon. “Well, I hope he’s starting to learn how ‘normal’ kids do things. Hopefully his reputation from his past acts won’t make it terrible for him.”

Wendy snorted. “Yeah, hopefully. I don’t know if that’s ever gonna happen, though – I’ve seen him come by the Mystery Shack sometimes. I think he’s gotten it into his head that he wants to help a certain group adjust to normal life again.”

“Well, I haven’t heard him say anything about that.” Maria frowned.

“Likely because Soos and Stanley keep him from going past the gift shop and into the house.” Wendy looked back at Sixer. “He might be interested in you, but I dunno. He had a stalker-crush on Mabel in the past.”

Sixer made a soft “ah” sound. “Interested in me how?”

“You’re the Author of the Journals – one of the authors, anyway – and he hasn’t exactly gotten the chance to talk to you face to face,” Wendy explained. “Not since the others learned about the stalking problem and started eyeing Gideon as a potential threat. I mean, they’re civil, I guess is the word? But they’re not gonna share their work with him.”

“Especially not after he tried to use that knowledge to take the Shack from Stan and thought the portal was a weapon he could take over the world with,” Maria commented with a nod.

Sixer made a pained noise behind them; Maria looked back and saw the wide-eyed look on his face.

“I…I suppose it _could_ be seen as a weapon,” he said uneasily. “It’s…it’s not like portals to other dimensions are a common occurrence.”

“But it doesn’t exist in this dimension,” Maria said evenly. “Not anymore.”

Sixer blinked, then gave a shaky nod in reply. “Y-yeah.”

The trio soon made their way up to the mansion’s open doors, where they were quickly bombarded with the sound of arguing between two Southern accented-voices.

“But I just want ta help! See, this spell here could—“

“I don’t need no spells when I know what will and won’t work with this metal, Gideon! I know what I’m doin’, an’ as much as I appreciate yer attempts ta help I’m startin’ ta get at my wit’s end here! If ya do _one more thing_ ta one of my babies, I’m sendin’ a car-smashin’ bot ta yer pop’s car lot! Now git!”

Maria raised an eyebrow at the yelling, looking surprised. She only became even _more_ surprised when Gideon came stomping out of the mansion, followed closely by a muscular man with red hair and white eyes.

Maria found it interesting that he was wearing a plain, powder blue coat and khaki pants. She supposed some color choices never really left a person.

“I don’t get it, Ghost Eyes! I offer my help to the people in this town because I don’t want him comin’ back, an’ no one’s takin’ me up on it!” The young, white-haired boy looked down at his hands, then clenched his fists and threw them down at his sides. “I have to do _somethin’_ that’ll show ‘em I don’t mean ta cause trouble this time around.”

“Maybe it’s because you’re just a kid to everybody else?” Ghost Eyes suggested. The two started to walk past Maria, Sixer, and Wendy, then paused. “Uh…boss?”

“What?” Gideon turned to look at Ghost Eyes and paused when he saw the others. Immediately, he tried to put on a showman’s smile, but he must have been out of practice – Maria could see his nerves coming through clear as day. “Wh-why, hello! I, uh, wasn’t expectin’ ta see you folks out here. Maria, right? I’m Gideon.” He started to put a hand out to shake, then paused and pulled it back before Maria could even consider accepting the gesture.

“I’ve heard,” Maria replied.

Gideon’s face fell a little. “O-oh.”

“I’m gonna go in and see what McGucket’s up to,” Wendy said casually. “Sounds like he’s really getting into his work in there.” She strode up to the mansion’s open doors with all the casual confidence of a really cool teenager.

Gideon fidgeted as Wendy walked off. “U-um. So, I’ve been wondering, if – if I can help with anything. I mean, I’ve read the Author’s – er, Dr. Pines’ work, so—“

“From what I heard, you only read a bit of it.” Maria rested one hand on her hip. “Just the second one, right? With all the spells and stuff?”

“Er – y-yeah.”

“That’s not all of his work, and you’re still pretty young. Considering what those spells were capable of, I’d be pretty concerned about letting a child experiment with cursed termites or mind control spells.”

Sixer shot Maria a look. Apparently, he hadn’t heard about that. Not surprising, considering that it had happened before Weirdmageddon – and some of it before he’d even returned home from his excursion across dimensions.

Gideon frowned. “A-are you sayin’ I’m too _young_ to help?”

Maria made a so-so motion. “More like too young to mess with things that could be considered detrimental to your health. I mean, I’m _pretty_ sure your hair wasn’t white when you were a baby.”

Gideon reached up with one hand and touched his hair, blinking in surprise.

“Magic always comes at a price of some kind, whether it drains your energy, changes your personality and appearance, or does something a lot more detrimental. So I wouldn’t suggest going that route if you want to help, considering that you’re so young yet.” Maria slipped her hands into her pockets.

“…I see.” Gideon had a strange sort of look on his face. “And what about – what about what’s going on between you two?” He looked between Maria and Sixer. Sixer blinked when Gideon’s attention was turned to him. “Are there going to be any after-effects to that?”

That question caught Maria by surprise. “W-well, there’s always the hope that there _won’t_ be, but I don’t doubt that this will affect the both of us somehow.” She glanced at Sixer. “It is better than if I had just cut him loose and left him as he was, though. What Cipher did would have made that decision not end well.”

Sixer met Maria’s gaze. His expression became saddened as he glanced away from her and down the driveway leading away from the mansion.

“Is this true?” Ghost Eyes frowned at Sixer. “She couldn’t’ve just…let you and your family go?”

Sixer’s ears flicked at the question, and he looked at Ghost Eyes with an uncertain expression before glancing at Maria. “Is it…”

Maria reached up and rested a hand on his shoulder. “Tell only as much as you feel you need to. I doubt they need the full story, though.”

Sixer blinked, then nodded before looking at Ghost Eyes. “Unfortunately, it is necessary. We’ve been…changed, to the point that we would end up dying otherwise. When…when Maria severed the connection, I could _feel_ my body giving out until she picked it up.”

Gideon’s eyes widened while Ghost Eyes winced.

“Oh, man. I can’t imagine what that would feel like,” the muscleman commented. “So, what are you gonna do about it? Is there anything that _can_ be done?”

“We haven’t found a solution yet,” Maria replied. “I…A friend of mine who I _thought_ could help said he hadn’t come across anything like this before, and that his abilities wouldn’t do us any good.”

She didn’t want to bring up Jewels in front of Gideon. Not yet, anyway – the being of Willpower from the Pokémon Realm hadn’t been able to reverse the problem, so that meant she’d have to look elsewhere.

“And I don’t really know where else I can look quite yet. Most of my focus the last few months has been helping Sixer in _other_ ways.”

Getting his emotions back and helping him learn his own abilities took a lot of Maria’s focus, when she wasn’t tending to her slowly-growing Berry trees or thinking about Cipher’s impending but hopefully-temporary apocalypse.

“Well, so long as you get there eventually, right?” Ghost Eyes clapped a hand on Sixer’s shoulder, causing him to stiffen in surprise. “You’ll get there. I believe that.”

Sixer watched Ghost Eyes in a confused fashion as he pulled his hand back. “Ah…thank you?”

Ghost Eyes just grinned back. He looked down at Gideon. “Hey, little man, how about we leave them to do their thing? Maybe we can find something to do that won’t get people more mad?”

“Y-yeah. Maybe.” Gideon frowned, then turned and walked away, Ghost Eyes right behind him. Maria could hear him muttering things under his breath as he went – likely planning on he could possibly do something to help, despite what had just happened.

Maria looked at Sixer. “What do you think of him?”

It took a moment before Sixer responded. “He’s trying to prove himself useful, despite his past mistakes. I can’t tell whether or not his intentions are misguided.”

“We just have to wait and see what comes of it, then.” Maria sighed and shook her head. “Hopefully he doesn’t get himself into trouble as a result.”

Sixer nodded absently, but he didn’t offer a verbal response.

“Let’s go see what Fidds is up to and make sure he knows what Stanford asked us to tell him. I bet Wendy’s told him about the unicorn hair already.”

“R-right.”

Maria walked through the mansion’s wide-open doors, frowning. A part of her wondered what was going through Sixer’s head – what was it about the conversation with Gideon that was causing him to act like this?

She would have to ask him later, if he was still thinking about it.

“Howdy, Maria!”

Maria was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard Fiddleford’s voice above her. She looked up…

…and up.

“Holy scrap, Fiddleford, are you making a Shacktron 2.0?”

Fiddleford cackled. He was hanging from a metal bar of scaffolding by his knees, probably in the middle of giving his current work a closer inspection before doing anything else. “Somethin’ like that!” He swung down the scaffolding like an agile monkey, landing quietly on his bare feet.

The landing was what surprised Maria. Considering how old Fiddleford was, she thought it more likely that he would have collapsed from a bone breaking. Maybe everything he had gone through only made him more durable in the long run?

“Wendy said you two wanted to check in an’ see how I was doin’?” Fiddleford walked over.

Wendy waved from where she was leaning against a part of the scaffolding.

Maria nodded. “We got the unicorn hair yesterday. Stanford’s working on the equations now to figure out how to translate the barrier spell into a bracelet that people can wear instead.”

Fiddleford’s eyes widened. “Really? Ya managed it? That’s excellent!” A grin nearly split his face. “That’s got ta be the best news I’ve heard today! I’ll head over an’ help him with the calculations when I’m done with this part o’ my mecha!” He cackled.

“He wanted to know if you had anything that could contain mercury safely, as well,” Sixer spoke up. He glanced at Maria, who nodded while Fiddleford looked surprised.

Maria was glad that Sixer was starting to speak up unprompted like that.

“Yeah.” Maria looked over at Fiddleford. “The plan is to make beads that will have the other components of the barrier spell, and mercury is one of them. Since it’s not good for it to be near humans….”

“Oh, that? Sure, that won’t be a problem! I’m sure I’ve got an alloy ‘round here somewhere that’ll cover that! I’ll do some diggin’ an’ find it an’ get to work on those later.” Fiddleford’s grin went a little manic. “Righ’ now, I’m on a bit of a roll – maybe you folks can help!”

“With what?” Maria raised an eyebrow. What would Fiddleford want help with when he had turned down Gideon’s help not but a few moments ago?

“He wants to know as much as he can about that demon’s minions,” Wendy called over. “Sixer, you were around them a lot, right? Think you’d be up to help with that?”

Sixer blinked at the question. He glanced over at Maria, but she just raised an eyebrow at him.

“She asked you, not me,” Maria pointed out.

Sixer hesitated, looking between Maria and Fiddleford while Fiddleford watched with a gradually more concerned expression. After a moment, he settled and nodded. “I am…up for assisting, yes.”

Fiddleford moved forward and patted Sixer on the arm. “Take yer time. I’m jus’ lookin’ fer basics on ‘em. Powers, what ta look out fer, that kinda thing.”

Sixer tilted his head slightly, gaze going up to the large, metallic mecha that Fiddleford was in the process of building.

“You – you’ve done this once before, so I assume you’re aware of his generals,” Sixer said.

“Is that what he calls ‘em?” Fiddleford scratched his head.

“I guess there’s more to them than just being ‘Henchmaniacs’,” Maria commented.

Sixer nodded, then launched into a long, elaborate explanation of the positions of Henchmaniacs, as well as basic weaknesses and strengths.

Teeth could eat just about anything, but that didn’t mean he had a stomach. The creature had an unending hunger that was only just barely under control. _Theoretically,_ breaking his jaw would immobilize him momentarily.

8-Ball was mostly kept around because of his ability to predict and change probability a little. It wasn’t good enough to completely change fate, but he could change things to work in his and Cipher’s favor more frequently.

Maria suspected that might have had something to do with Sixer’s current state, but she kept the thought to herself. What was done was done, unfortunately, but that didn’t mean that things were going to remain that way.

Sixer ended up skipping over Pyronica after a moment’s hesitation. Maria could guess why, but the confused look on Fiddleford’s face when Sixer finished talking about Xanthar said that he didn’t.

“What about that fire cyclops?” Fiddleford asked. “Pyro-somethin’?”

Sixer went ramrod straight at the question as a visible shudder ran down his back. Maria thought that the fur on his tails started to stand on end, but it was the look on his face that caused her the most concern.

“Journal shared her weaknesses with me,” Maria spoke up seriously. “Alcor and I have dibs on her head; if anyone’s going to take care of her, it’s going to be us.”

The abruptness of her words caught Sixer’s attention. He looked over sharply, and Maria saw the glaze that was _starting_ to form in his eyes begin to fade quickly.

Fiddleford looked surprise. “Really? Why do you two want ta—“

“She’s done something that she has to answer for.” Maria looked over at Sixer. “And I intend to make sure that she does.”

The look on Sixer’s face gave away his surprise.

“Ya sure?” Fiddleford frowned. “She’s, ah, pretty big, ya know.”

“I’ve fought bigger.” Maria was grimly determined. She didn’t want to let that monster wander out and about freely in Gravity Falls more than she already had in another dimension.

Which, speaking of…

Maria looked over at Sixer. “If we’re out in the middle of Weirdmageddon and she finds us, I want you to run back to the Shacks as fast as you can. The unicorn barriers should keep her out just as much as they keep out Cipher’s weirdness. I know what she did, and I don’t want to give her the opportunity to do it again.”

Sixer’s eyes widened while Wendy and Fiddleford looked confused at where the conversation had so abruptly turned. “A-are you certain? Your abilities—“

“May be the same, but that doesn’t mean I can’t stall her. I’m planning on getting some materials that might be able to help, and I know that Alcor is going to want to get a few hits in, too. If I can keep her distracted long enough that you can get away from her, then I’ll do something that will keep her from following me and follow suit. I’ve been thinking about my strategy since Christmas, Sixer. I know what I’m doing.”

“But – what if you _can’t_?”

“Then you’ll be back at the Shack where it’s safe. And that’s all that will matter at that point.”

Maria  _had_ been worrying over what could happen if she was caught. There was a high chance of the connection to Sixer being severed if that was the case, and if he wasn’t in a safe place, then there would be problems. Like someone finding Sixer that she _didn’t_ want finding him.

So the next best thing would be to make sure he’s in the Shack – among people she _trusted_ – if the connection to her was ever severed. Then it could be picked up by someone else there, and they could fight back without any issues.

Just…not with her help.

Sixer’s expression held more worry in it than Maria thought she’d _ever_ see on his or his counterparts’ faces. “Why?”

“Because I’d rather die than let him take any of you back.”

Maria’s conviction bled through into her words, and Sixer definitely heard it. The expression on his face was of wide-eyed understanding – she’d told him a few times that she had been controlled before, and that it hadn’t been pleasant. Seeing him like this only made her more convinced that she didn’t want him to fall back into a terrible fate of any sort.

He knew how serious she was.

Sixer considered Maria. He nodded slowly. “Okay.”

 


	35. April

It took time for the winter to retract its claws and let spring take over, but when spring arrived it arrived with a _vengeance._

When Maria stepped out of the Shack and into a morning that smelled of living green things and pollen, she knew that she had to go and check the berry trees she had planted at the end of last summer.

Being mid-April, they _had_ to be ready to produce a crop by now. And produce berries _quickly_.

Maria stepped off the porch and into the muddy mess of melting snow, growing grass, and overwatered dirt.

Maria lifted a foot and shook off the mud that was clinging to the sole of her boots. “Man; I hope the berry trees didn’t get too overwatered. I may have to replant and dig a trench to make sure that they don’t get oversaturated or something.”

Across the clearing, boots squelched into the earth, and Maria looked over. She blinked when she saw Sixer looking down at the mud on his boots. He must have seen her step out of the Shack and followed suit, or he had plans of his own today.

She wondered if he ever _did_ have plans of his own.

“Hey, Sixer.” Maria walked over, taking big steps in order to pick up as little mud as possible while Sixer’s tails rose up to hover above his knees. “I’m heading out to check on the berry trees; I think they might be getting ready to drop some berries soon.”

Sixer didn’t offer an answer at first. He looked…well, Maria _guessed_ that he was worried, from how his brow was furrowing.

The look on his face caused her to frown a little. “Is…something wrong, Sixer?”

“I just…” Sixer paused. “What you said before. About…how many times have you been taken?”

The question felt like it was coming out of the blue. “Taken?”

“No longer in control of your actions.” The look on Sixer’s face didn’t change.

Ah.

Maria hadn’t given him all the details, had she?

She motioned for him to follow her. “How long have you been curious about that?”

Sixer shrugged as he fell into step behind her. His tails were high enough that they weren’t going to get dirtied by any mud that might be kicked up as they walked. “I’m not sure. It’s been something I have been thinking about a little since you said that the Dark Arms had done the same to you.”

“This has been bothering you since late last _year?_ ” Maria looked at him in surprise. “And you didn’t think to ask before now? Why?”

Sixer ducked his head a little. “I…wasn’t sure if it was a question I was able to ask.”

Maria’s expression softened. “While it isn’t a part of my past that I like to talk about very often, I would have let you know if I didn’t want to talk about it if you had asked.”

“Oh.”

“But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to answer your question. You of all people deserve to know, considering what you’re going through.”

Sixer’s ears perked up from their slowly-drooping position at Maria’s words. The surprise on his face caused Maria to smile a little.

“I think you should know first that the Dark Arms weren’t the first people to make the attempt and succeed,” Maria began as they walked through the trees. The area smelled of rain and wet, growing things, which Maria found to be a good thing. “The first incident happened right after I left the Pokémon world, in the next dimension that I arrived in.”

“S-so soon?” Sixer sounded surprised.

Maria nodded. “I was seventeen then; I was sixteen when I met you at the Guild.”

To think that she had ever been that young felt impossible now, but her physical form spoke more of the truth in that than anything else.

“The world is one that I’m familiar with because of video games – my brother used to play a lot of them and had picked up this one at some point. Basically, this dimension had a lot of problems with robot uprisings because of a man named Albert Wily, a genius roboticist who was constantly at odds with a former colleague, Thomas Light. I arrived during a rebellion in the later years, when Wily was starting to lose his mind. I learned before I got nabbed that it was _probably_ due to him using a certain kind of teleportation that wasn’t safe for human use.”

Maria paused, wondering if Sixer was going to ask something, but when he didn’t, she kept going.

“When I got there, I ended up getting caught by surprise by one of his robots – a humanoid one who threw buzzsaws at people. He…got me pretty badly. I was able to melt him down to slag, but the cost was high – I almost died from the combined energy exhaustion and the blood loss. I’m lucky that MegaMan – one of Light’s earliest creations and his surrogate son – was in the area. He brought me back to Light’s lab and…well, they saved my life, but at a cost.”

Sixer made a soft noise of understanding. When Maria looked at him curiously, he elaborated, “That’s why you’re no longer human.”

Maria nodded. “Yeah. As much as that means I’m no longer physically _weak_ like one, though, that doesn’t mean that I’m strong against everything. I ended up gaining weaknesses to other things in the process. Like the idea of reprogramming a robot to suit your needs.” Her expression went grim. “Wily didn’t know I’d been human, so when he attempted to…turn me to his side in the only way he knew how, it…it wasn’t pleasant.”

Thinking back on it, she could feel the phantom pains of electricity running up and down her spine, her senses failing, her mind growing fuzzy…then nothing.

The blankness that had followed while standing and waiting between orders now made her _horrified._

“I’m lucky that a few friends stepped in to help Light reverse the problem,” Maria continued. “And that I apparently had built-in defenses. I can be forced to make a portal into another dimension when in that state, but it only creates a window like when I attempted to go back into your timeline. A couple allies saw the window and made a one-way portal to Light’s dimension and helped him reverse the program’s effects. Most of them, anyway – I’ve got pieces of it left up in here, but they redid it into a defense mechanism.”

Maria tapped the side of her head while Sixer’s eyes widened.

“If it’s a defense mechanism…then how were the Dark Arms able to do what they did?” Sixer asked.

“Well, it turns out that the Defense Protocol only jumps to action when the invading program in question wants to wipe out something that makes me me, or tries to get me to do something that I wouldn’t do under normal circumstances.”

They reached the clearing with the berry trees as Maria spoke, their boots now caked in mud. The trees were small compared to the pine trees around them, but the leaves were fully green. If there were blooms or berries, Maria couldn’t tell – not at just a glance.

“So the Dark Arms found ways to circumvent that…until they tried to make me kill my brother,” Maria continued.

Sixer sucked in a breath. “Your family was involved in this as well?”

“Just my older brother, but…yeah. He was on one of the worlds that the Dark Arms fused with other ones. He’d been doing some work there at the time and…well, the Dark Arms didn’t think they needed another World Jumper when they found out he could do the same thing that I could.” Maria frowned. “I’ve always been against being the one to take another person’s life, especially since I started World Jumping when I was 16, so that on top of the thought of killing my own brother helped me snap out of their control and gain an immunity to their tech in the process. If they try to pull the Mind Tech thing on me again, they’re going to get booted out of my head in a matter of seconds. They tried to take me back enough times for me to know that.”

Being stuck in a lab with them plugging things into her neck while keeping her submerged in a water-filled tank had not been her idea of pleasant. Especially since she’d turned the water to steam near the end, right before they cryofroze her, damaged inner workings and all. Waking up to find a Mind Tech’d Captain America had not been a good memory for her.

“…which is why they were interested in what had been done to us,” Sixer said slowly. “Because they wanted to know what had been done so that they could find a way around those defenses.”

Maria’s expression sobered. “Yeah. They’d be the first ones to try something like that, but not the second to try and take me back. Wily and I crossed paths a few months after I’d left his dimension He tried to take me back and reactivate the Protocol’s original programming, but a friend of mine intervened. The Protocol had this weird quirk back then of latching onto people I trusted and having _them_ take control for a bit, if they knew the activation codes. It felt a bit restricting, but it never got as bad as how it was with Wily.”

Sixer stared at Maria. “You trusted people enough to put yourself in that position?”

“If I had to. You can ask Stanford about it – I actually let _him_ activate it when I first met him in order to prove I was trustworthy. That was before I ran into the Dark Arms, and before he got home. After the World Collision, though, the Protocol stopped doing that. I guess it’s just defensive now, after what happened.”

Considering that she didn’t like the idea of being controlled by _anyone_ anymore, and she was much more capable of handling herself, it made sense that eventually the program would adapt and become something else.

Especially after how the MindTech had torn through her systems.

Sixer was frowning now. “How many others?”

“For the Protocol, you mean?”

Sixer nodded.

“Well, Captain America was the first – he was there when Wily tried to take me back.” Maria started ticking the names off on her fingers. “Then there was…Optimus Prime, when he was suffering from momentary memory loss – he’s a Cybertronian, one of these big mechanical aliens who can transform into vehicles. Same for Wildfire, who is a close friend and may as well be family…and then my cousin Joshua and Stanford. Those are the only people who have really made use of it, and out of all of them Joshua’s done it a couple of times.” Maria made a face. “He had a thing about trying to keep me from being reckless. I didn’t exactly like how he went about it.”

“Oh.” Sixer looked like he wasn’t sure what to think of that.

“Got any other questions?” Maria pulled a couple large, cylindrical wicker baskets out from under her jacket, then marched over to one of the closest berry trees and looked up. “I can answer them as I check the trees to see if there are any berries already.”

She heard the mud squelch behind her as she walked up to one of the trees. Sixer’s footsteps were a little less certain than hers. She put the baskets down on either side of the tree and looked up the trunk at the branches.

“…Cipher has more Henchmaniacs than just the ones Fiddleford asked about.”

Maria paused, one hand on the trunk. “Do you mean, he’s _always_ had more, or something else?” She glanced back at Sixer.

Sixer’s tails fidgeted. “He made deals with others. Their loyalty for whatever power they chose.”

That wasn’t what Maria had been expecting to hear.

“He willingly picked up more minions?” Maria’s eyebrows rose. “I’d have thought that he was content with the numbers he had already.”

Sixer shrugged helplessly. “Like I knew what was going through his head. He could have been attempting to gain more minions for his invasion into later dimensions for all I know.”

“That certainly does seem likely.” Maria leaned against the tree behind her, frowning. “But looking for willing people – I’d think they were more desperate. Joining with Cipher was probably their only way to survive the apocalypse, and after being changed…I bet they didn’t even think if their families anymore, much less who they were.”

“That was the case, from what I remember,” Sixer replied. “He…every deal made to give someone those abilities turned them into something that was no longer human. I don’t know if there is anyone left alive who is still who they used to be.”

Maria nodded, frowning. “Yeah. Either they’re changed, killed, or stuck in Cipher’s throne room like trophies.” That was a grim thought. “What about the dimensions that were added on after yours?”

“I never saw them after the initial assault. He…he kept us out of the way, when he….” Sixer trailed off, his voice becoming quiet.

Maria’s gaze hardened. “When Cipher’s been taken care of, I’m checking on those worlds. Weirdmageddon was reversed without doing any permanent damage to Gravity Falls here; maybe the same is true for the dimensions you were forced to invade.”

“Do you truly think that there’s a chance what has been done could be undone?”

Maria blinked at Sixer’s question, then nodded. “Yeah. I do. It might not be the same when all is said and done, if it can return to how it was before, it will.” She smiled a little, but there was a fire in her eyes. “We just have to take care of Cipher first. Then everything else should be okay.”

Sixer blinked, somehow looking like he was…in awe? “Is it because of your experience with the Continuum Shift that you know this?”

“Partially. I also had the chance to watch what happened to Stanford’s Gravity Falls, but with his events portrayed as a cartoon. As soon as Cipher was defeated in Stanley’s mind – and Stanford wiped Stanley’s mind with the memory gun – Cipher’s minions were pulled back through the rift, which sealed shut behind them. And then the world just…went back to normal.” Maria shrugged. “I’d say there’s a pretty good chance it could happen for your dimension and the others affected, too.”

Sixer considered that, then nodded.

“Come on. I think at least some of these trees might be ripe, so let’s have a look-see and get some of them taken back to the Shack.” Maria turned and started to climb the berry tree that she had been leaning against.

“Didn’t you say you would leave half for the members of the forest to take?” Sixer asked as he approached the base of the tree.

“Yup! And that’s still the plan! I just need to get a portion of the berries from each of the trees and we’ll leave the rest for the other creatures to take until the next time the berries are ripe. Or until I run low in my supply, one of the two.”

Collecting the berries didn’t take more than a few hours. By the time the two were done, there were muddy footprints all over the tree trunks and more than a few baskets filled with different kinds of berries.

Maria made it a point to leave the rest of the berries on the branches so that wild creatures could reach them, rather than plucking them off and leaving them on the ground.

As she and Sixer left the clearing, she saw the Multibear waddle in, rubbing the sleep out of the eyes of one if its bear heads.

“Go for that one!” Maria pointed at one of the trees with purple-blue berries. “Chesto Berries are a natural wake-up call!”

Multibear snorted and looked over in surprise at her voice, then looked over at the tree. He grunted and started towards it.

Maria grinned, then looked at Sixer, who was watching the Multibear with an expression of curiosity.

“I wonder how many heads his parents had,” Sixer said.

 


	36. June

Maria realized that an important day was coming up about a week into June.

_She’d almost forgotten Stans’ and Fords’ birthday._

She hadn’t gotten around to getting the younger twins’ gifts for their birthday back in August – that had come up on her so fast that she hadn’t even realized it was that close – but this? She’d been in their dimension for almost a year; she had to come up with _something_.

“You know you don’t _have_ to get them birthday gifts, right?” Dipper asked while Maria gnawed on the end of a pen. The two of them were sitting in the kitchen, Maria trying to come up with a list. “I mean, you got them a _lot_ of cool stuff in December. They probably aren’t expecting anything from younext week.”

“Still, I can’t help but feel like I should get _something_ put together.” Maria frowned. “I’ve been living with you guys for this long; it’s the least I can do at this point.”

“Besides helping Grunkle Sixer?” Dipper frowned. “Maria, you’re already doing _a lot._ They’re not gonna think badly of you if you don’t do anything for their birthday.”

“Yeah!” Mabel bounced in, carrying a box of craft supplies. “I mean, you’re working to save the world! That’s gotta take up a lot of your time, right?”

“You’d be surprised,” Maria replied dryly. She shook her head and twirled her pen between her fingers.

“When’s your birthday, by the way? I wanna put together a party so that we can celebrate it!” Mabel dropped the box on the table, grinning.

Maria stopped twirling the pen. “My birthday?”

“Yeah! I mean, you have to have one, right? You’re not from some weird dimension where people don’t know their own birthdays, are you?” Mabel frowned at Maria.

“Our dimension has birthdays,” Vash said from the kitchen doorway. “It’s just that Aunt Maria stopped celebrating hers a long time ago.”

Maria sent Vash an annoyed look, but he did his best to ignore it. As it was, his shoulders rose up a little as his expression went sheepish.

“What?!” Mabel looked at Maria with an aghast expression. “Why?!”

Maria sighed and put the pen and the list down on the table. She rolled her eyes. “It’s because I’m so old and I’ve traveled across so many dimensions that it really doesn’t make a difference to me anymore. So I’ve lived for another year; so what? Not as much time as passed in my dimension, most likely – or so much time as passed that I’ve gained another five years to this world’s one or something like that.” She sighed.

Mabel stared at Maria with such an intense stare that it made Maria feel…slightly unnerved by the focus she had.

“When. Is. Your. Birthday.”

Maria met Mabel’s stare, but after a moment, she snorted and turned her gaze away. “May 28th. We’ve already passed it.”

Mabel gasped in dramatic fashion. “How dare you be so concerned about Grunkle Stanford’s and Grunkle Stanley’s birthday and never even tell us _you_ had one and we missed it! You’re not making any birthday gifts for my grunkles, sister – no!” She snatched the list off the table and proceeded to eat it.

“Hey!” Maria reached for the scraps that were sticking out from Mabel’s mouth, but she swallowed it before Maria could grab even a little piece.

“Nope! Don’t you go worrying about birthday gifts when you dared to make me skip yours over the silly idea that you’re too _old_ for them!” Mabel paused. “…how old _are_ you, anyway? Or are you at the point where you aren’t keeping track of that, either?”

“Eehhh….”

Maria sent Vash another look. She hadn’t expected the birthday conversation to bring up her birthday of all things, and she hadn’t been planning on celebrating it herself, either.

“Age isn’t something that I keep track of so closely anymore.” Maria leaned back in her chair and folded her arms. “But if it makes you feel any better, last I checked I’m somewhere around a thousand years old according to my home dimension. If I was adding up how much time I’ve spent in other dimensions…” She paused in thought. “I get the feeling that it would be a larger number because of fluctuations in time between those dimensions and my home dimension. I mean, I once spent seven years in a dimension where it was only a week’s time in my home dimension.”

Maria’s statement was met with wide-eyed stares from both Dipper and Mabel.

She shrugged. “So age doesn’t mean anything to me anymore. Not when time bounces around so much.”

“…you’re older than Grunkle Sixer is,” Dipper said. “But – how is—“

“Time is a variable construct,” Vash said. “Especially between dimensions.”

“I need to go and talk to some people,” Mabel said. “Don’t you go planning on giving Grunkles gifts on the 15th! Not yet!” And she scrambled out of the kitchen. Seconds later, Maria heard the door slam behind her.

There was an awkward moment of silence afterwards. Maria decided to break it.

“Not even a few days out of ninth grade and she’s already got more than enough energy to handle the summer,” Maria commented.

“You telling her that you don’t celebrate your birthday anymore just gave her more energy, I think,” Dipper replied. “She’s gone into full party-planning mode, if she wasn’t in it _already_ for our grunkles.”

That gave Maria pause.

“So…she’s going to plan something for me, is what you’re saying.”

“I think so?” Dipper shrugged. “I mean, your reason for not liking your birthday isn’t as bad as Soos with his dad.”

Maria nodded.

“So…I don’t think you’re going to wait for Mabel to do something.”

Maria shook her head at Dipper’s statement. “No, I’m not. I’m still going to give presents to _someone.”_

Dipper frowned. “Are you sure? I mean, it’s not like you have more stuff that they might want…do you?”

Maria tilted her head to one side, considering Dipper’s question.

“Considering that I gave away everything from my subspace that I either no longer use or think that the rest of you would find useful, I’ve probably exhausted my ability to give gifts,” Maria admitted after a moment. “Fiddleford has most of my old tech, I split the rest among the Fords – except for Sixer; I gave him a set of pencils and a sketchbook. I dunno if he’s made use of it.”

That caused something else to occur to Maria.

“…I think I know what I want to do.”

**Time Break**

June 15th arrived, and so did all the chaos of an almost purely Mabel-planned birthday, although the promise was that it was going to be quiet this year. Maria suspected that was because of what was likely coming at the _end_ of the summer.

Planets of impossible colors and little boats of different models hung from ropes that ran from Shack to Shack in a crazy spiderweb that looked almost impossible to put up without anyone else noticing. Tables were dragged out into the open while Mabel, Mabelcorn, Maple, and Mizar shut almost everyone out of the kitchen in Alex’s Shack. Alex and Karen insisted on remaining present, which the girls were more than fine with.

Thankfully – or, perhaps, strangely – the afternoon didn’t bring with it crowds of folks from the main part of town. Maria wondered if they didn’t _know_ today was the twins’ birthday, or if they didn’t turn it into a big, extravagant party on purpose.

“They didn’t want you to help?” Sphinx looked at Star with curious surprise.

“I don’t know how things work in a kitchen.” Star fidgeted a little.

“Well, we’ll have to fix that at some point.” Sphinx smiled a little.

“I’d go in there and help, but they didn’t want me going in there either.” Maria folded her arms across her chest and frowned.

Sixer frowned at her, curious. “Why not?”

“Because Mabel found out last week that we didn’t celebrate my birthday because I didn’t tell anyone when it was and I think she’s now combining it with yours this year.”

Sixer blinked, looking confused.

“Seriously?” Stanley frowned. “When was it, March?”

“May 28th.” Maria shrugged. “The end of the school year was usually accompanied by a birthday celebration for me. It just…stopped, after a while.”

Maria wasn’t sure _when_ exactly she’d stopped celebrating her birthday. It had been sometime after the Continuum Shift, she knew that much. Maybe after she’d spent time traveling around with a pirate crew?

“Huh.” Stanley frowned. “You really thought you could get away with not telling Mabel what your birthday is.”

“It honestly never came up until last week.” Maria shrugged. “And Vash happened to be there and mentioned that I didn’t see a point in it because of how long I’ve lived and…that was that.”

The looks she got in response to that made her blink in confusion. “What?”

“Kid, you saw everything that happened to us in that cartoon thing,” Stan said flatly. “Did you _really_ think that you could live with us for a year and _not_ tell her when your birthday was?”

Maria ducked her head a little at the stares she was getting. “…it was worth a shot.”

Stanley snorted. “Not wanting to celebrate it because you don’t count the years isn’t as bad as other reasons. Let the kid have her fun just this once, all right? Besides.” He grinned. “It’s not like you’ve had birthdays with _us_ before ya got here.”

As much as Maria wasn’t looking forward to being reminded that she was a year older and that much older than those who stood around her…Mabel’s insistence that they celebrate her birthday was starting to stir older memories back out into the open.

As much as those memories hurt to remember, as the people who surrounded her in them passed a long time ago…the memories were still warm.

Maybe this year would give her the chance to make some kinder memories.

“…I’m not even sure of how old I’m _supposed_ to be.”

Maria looked over at Sixer at his words. He looked troubled. “Do you mean the exact number or something else?”

“…a little of both, I think? I know that the tails of a kitsune dictate its age, but – every time a tail started to split, the process was sped up. I don’t know if…if time was slowed or sped up around me just because seeing my tails split quickly was….” Sixer trailed off, uncertain.

Maria got the feeling that Cipher thought it was amusing to see Sixer in pain no matter what the cause. Her gaze hardened a little. “We’ll figure things out. You probably need time to adjust to time again, and then we can figure out your age from there. Besides, since you have six tails, telling people you’re about 600 will probably be enough, unless they’re incredibly nosy about the exact number.”

Sixer was about to respond to that when door to Alex’s Shack was suddenly kicked open, and four Mabels – accompanied by Alex and Karen – as they carried out trays of sandwiches and one big platter with a large cake, decorated in dark purple frosting covered in splatters of white that almost resembled the Milky Way.

The sight of the cake was appropriately greeted with oos and aahs from group of Pines gathered in the clearing. The group of artistic teenagers who had put everything together grinned proudly at the positive response.

“All right, everybody! Before we commence with the birthday celebrations, I got a little announcement to make!” Mabel climbed up on a table, standing between sandwich platters. “We almost _missed_ an important birthday! Maria’s birthday was on May 28, and she didn’t _tell_ us!”

Her announcement was met with the appropriately over-dramatic gasps from Mabel's counterparts while Maria suddenly found herself at the center of everyone’s stares.

“So we’re gonna celebrate her birthday _and_ our Grunkles’ birthdays!” Mabel concluded. “And then I’m gonna figure out when Vash’s and Knives’ birthdays are so we can do that too!”

“Um…” Vash raised a hand from the back of the group. “We were born in space, technically? So I don’t know what date it would have been on Earth.”

“Well, pick something!” Mabel replied. “It doesn’t matter what the date is, so long as you celebrate it at least once a year!”

“We’ll consider it,” Knives replied shortly. “Perhaps we should keep our focus on the people who have important milestones  _today?”_

“Right! Let’s eat cake!”

“We gotta sing first!” Maple corrected quickly.

Mabel slapped a hand against her forehead. “Right, right! I almost forgot! Ready, girls?”

“Ready!” came the response of three other Mabels speaking at once.

Maria mentally braced herself for what was probably going to be the most interesting and possibly dissonant rendition of “Happy Birthday” she had ever heard.

It ended up being one of the nicer renditions, although having it sung by four identical girls with identical voices was the strangest thing Maria had heard recently. Still, they sung it with great enthusiasm, which warmed Maria up a little.

It made Maria remember some of the nicer memories she had of being at home when school had finished, creating a warmer feeling in her than she’d been expecting.

The cake was passed out – dark chocolate and vanilla, mixed together in such a manner that it looked like they were eating the night sky even _without_ the frosting. It tasted delicious.

Maria saw Sixer going for a second slice and almost laughed when Mabel pointed him towards a large bowl of jellybeans. The way his eyes lit up with child-like wonder and delight felt like a present in and of itself.

It felt even _more_ like a present when Sixer took two handfuls of jellybeans and proceeded to eat them with an expression of nostalgic bliss that only came with finding something you had been missing for a long time. He definitely deserved those.

“We’ve got presents!” Mabelcorn started making her way through the group, handing out gifts from saddlebags that hung from her sides. They weren’t very big things – books on recent scientific discoveries, little drawings and crafts to keep as trinkets.

And then Mabel pressed two DVD collections into Maria’s hands.

“They released Ducktective on DVD, and Dipper got you a copy of his favorite nerdy show, too.” Mabel grinned up at Maria. “Since you haven’t really sat down and watched them, now you can!”

“And it’s really rare for a show like Ducktective to be released on disk,” Dipper added. “The last time the company let a series be released like that to the public, it was back in the mid-90s with some kind of magical bear show.”

“Huh.” Maria looked down at the two disk sets with a raised eyebrow. “Thanks, guys. I’ll have to look into watching these later.”

Mabel and Dipper beamed, then moved off to help distribute more gifts.

As they did, Maria saw Sixer standing off to one side with a nearly-empty bowl of jelly beans held against his middle and a book tucked under one arm. Maria could barely see the title – something about Asian myths, it looked like, but Maria wasn’t entirely sure.

“I see that some things never changed.” Maria motioned to the jelly beans as she spoke, getting Sixer’s attention.

Sixer blinked, then swallowed his mouthful of candy goodness. His tails were twitching and flicking while his ears turned in order to track the sounds of his counterparts and Crescent and his counterparts thanking Mabels and Dippers for their thoughtful gifts. “I…I missed eating them? I think that’s the appropriate response?” He looked down at the bowl. “I hadn’t realized that I had ever missed them until Mabel showed me this.”

Maria smiled, but it wasn’t a full smile. “Yeah. I get that too, sometimes.” She looked down at the two DVD collections in her hands. “I was…kinda starting to think that birthdays were useless endeavors, after I stopped keeping close track of my age. But something about today…it’s making me rethink that. Just a little.”

Sixer smiled a little in response. “It is…nice.” His smile faded. “But if we cannot stop what’s coming—“

“I know.” Maria patted him on the arm with one hand while she made the DVDs disappear with her other. “We’re preparing all that we can for that, and I think that we’re going to be able to beat him back. So, in light of that….” She pulled something out from under her jacket and held it out to Sixer.

She hadn’t bothered to wrap it – and she was glad she hadn’t, considering how full Sixer’s arm was with the bowl of jelly beans. So the burgundy red journal was out in full daylight, sun glinting off the gold that adorned the corners and spine of the cover.

But it wasn’t what was at the corners that caught Sixer’s attention.

“You – this is the one you were planning on writing about—“

“I know,” Maria replied. “But I think that it’ll see more proper use in your hands.”

She’d already put a symbol on the cover, and it would probably be a familiar one to Sixer specifically.

The six-fingered hand of a Ford, over a pinwheel of six fox tails.

“Use it to re-record information from your old journals you want to keep, or write new things about the forest, or yourself. I don’t care what you do with it – I’m considering this my birthday gift to you.” Maria pushed the journal forward a little.

Sixer took the book with his free hand, looking it over with an expression of amazement. “You…you didn’t have to do this.”

“Probably not. But…I wanted to.”

Maria knew that Sixer as he currently was wouldn’t be able to completely grasp the definition of that word, but she felt in this context, there was no other word that could possibly work.

Sixer winced a little, but he recovered quickly. There was still that look of amazement or gentle awe on his face. “Thank you.”

Maria smiled and patted him on the arm again. “Anytime, Sixer. Let’s see if there’s anything else sweet around here to munch on. I’m pretty sure that you’re nearly out of jelly beans!”

 


	37. Summer Preparations

About a week after the Stans and Fords turned a year older, the summer magic that normally accompanied vacations away from school turned into the tension one might feel when preparing for an important event.

In this case, war.

Static rippled across the town in the early morning air.

**“All right! We’re gonna run a drill with the Shacktron 2.0 and I need all my pilots up here stat!”**

Fiddleford’s shriek from the loudspeakers he’d apparently built into the mansion served as a wake-up call once a week. Considering that the whole town and the forest could hear it, it only served as a warning towards the impending doom that was coming at the end of the summer.

Maria simply groaned and turned over in her sleep before glaring at the open door as Dipper and Mabel scrambled out of the house, Stanford and Stanley right behind them. “He gets everyone up at sunrise for apocalypse training and doesn’t let me get in on the piloting. _Really_ wish that I could, but ‘yer fire magic don’t work with my machinery’!”

Maria huffed and pushed herself to her feet, then wandered into the kitchen to get some coffee and whatever remains of breakfast there were that the Pines had left behind. That done, she stepped out of the Shack and into a quiet early morning, just after sunrise.

Vash and Knives stepped out after her.

“We’re heading over to Fiddleford’s to—“

“I know; we’ve settled into a routine by now.” Maria waved Vash and Knives on. "I’ll be working with Sixer again today. Don’t get squashed if the Shacktron missteps.”

“Don’t intend to!” Vash replied cheerily.

Maria watched as the two of them ran off, but she didn’t smile at Vash as he passed her. Their eyes told far more about the current situation than they were willing to say to each other face to face.

While Vash smiled in order to lighten the situation, the grim spark in his eyes said that his thoughts were on anything _but_ being lighthearted.

Maria’s smile-less expression was very much the same.

Except that she was already thinking about the chaos that was coming at the end of the month, and thinking about it like a _war._

“I’ve lived through dimension-ending chaos once before,” Maria muttered. Memories flitted through the back of her mind – dark skies, destroyed city-scapes, people with their brains turned off while they walked around, taking orders from the dark, horned monsters that lived up in their tower in the middle of it all.

“I don’t intend to let this time last as long as the last one.”

Another door opened, and Sixer stepped out onto the lawn. Maria saw him start to approach, and he paused when he saw the look on her face.

“The others have already gone out,” he said. “What’s the plan?”

“They’re running through drills so that they can get used to how Fiddleford’s Shacktron works,” Maria replied. “And maybe figure out how any abilities anyone has could be used against the Henchmaniacs when they get here.” She paused. “There’s something that I still want to do, and I’m going to need to head over into the next town in order to do it.”

“What is it?”

“Journal suggested that holy items would be enough against…a certain Henchmaniac,” Maria said carefully. She didn’t need to say who – Sixer got the message almost immediately, judging from how his tails stiffened. “I was planning on getting as much holy water as possible from the nearest cathedral, but I’m going to have to go to the next town over in order to get any.”

Maria paused, then added, “I wasn’t going to ask you to come with me because I don’t know how well-adapted any _other_ towns outside of Gravity Falls are with what lives in the woods in this valley. I’m gonna get looks for flying in there on a hoverboard – you’d _definitely_ get looks. I didn’t…want to make the town get more attention than it already has.”

Sixer frowned. “I’ve been in places where I have received stares before. I am not afraid of receiving more, if you require my aid.”

Maria frowned. “Are you sure?”

“My counterparts see me as nothing more than the horseman of death and a harbinger of chaos, Maria. I think I can handle whatever looks I may receive outside of Gravity Falls.”

Maria hadn’t heard Sixer speak _that_ frankly about how his counterparts saw him before, so it caused her a little surprise.

“Really?”

Sixer nodded. “I’ve faced worse insults and stares from my counterparts and those affected in other dimensions by…by what Cipher has done. I think I’ll be okay.”

Maria raised an eyebrow. Sixer really was serious about this.

“Well…all right. But I don’t exactly have room on my hoverboard for two.”

“I can keep up on foot.”

Maria blinked. “How?”

Sixer lowered himself into a crouch…and then started to change. The fur that covered his tails started to take over his clothes and what bare skin he had. His head elongated slightly into a proper snout.

In moments, Sixer was no longer in a humanoid form, but in the form of a six-tailed fox.

And for a fox, he was _huge._

Maria stared, a little wide-eyed. “Whoa.” She walked around him, taking a wide berth because of his tails. “You’re…you’re about the size of a Ninetales, Sixer. And you can go fast like this?”

Sixer nodded.

“Okay.” Maria backflipped, her red and orange hoverboard appearing underneath her almost out of nowhere before her feet could hit the ground. She landed on the hovering machinery instead of the dirt, then looked over at Sixer. “We’ve got a bit of a trek ahead of us, so let’s get moving while we still have daylight.”

Sixer nodded again and made a noise that sounded almost like a bark. Maria took that to be an affirmative – maybe he couldn’t talk like a human in this form.

Maria turned and started down the driveway and out onto the road before turning and heading away from Gravity Falls. While she stayed on the edge of the road, Sixer stuck to the trees while he kept himself in her peripheral. He was just as fluid in his movements in this form as he was in his human one, which Maria found interesting.

He must have spent quite a bit of time in his fox form if that was the case.

The two of them kept up a decent pace that matched a car driving through a civilian area, which resulted in the two of them spending a good hour among the trees before they reached the next town over. Maria didn’t bother to look at the town’s name as they passed the sign, but she did slow down when they started to hit the buildings.

“We’re looking for a big, old cathedral,” Maria said. She stepped off the hoverboard as Sixer came to a stop next to her. “There can’t be that many out here, although I once knew a town that had four different churches in it at once.”

Instead of letting the hoverboard vanish, Maria grabbed it and tucked it under her arm like a skateboard. It almost looked like it could pass off as one, except that it was metal and definitely longer than a regular board. She hoped they weren’t going to get too many stares.

Sixer shifted out of fox form as they walked, rising up from a crouch as the fur receded and was replaced with his more human form. His tails twitched as they settled behind him in their usual appearance – hanging straight down, curling up around ankle-height just to make sure that they didn’t drag on the ground. There was a good five inches at the tip that was held up that way.

As they walked through the street, Maria kept her eyes above the roofs of the buildings, in order to catch sight of the cathedral’s spires. It didn’t take her long.

“There we go.” Maria nodded to a spire that rose into the skyline, off to her left. “Now to get over there and see if they’d be willing to part with any of their holy water.”

She started towards the spires, cutting across the road. Sixer stuck to her side, keeping in step just a little bit behind her.

A few cars driving by had their windows down. A few people gaped openly at the two of them, but Maria ignored the stares. She knew that they were coming – Sixer’s features were difficult to hide, and the hoverboard under her arm didn’t look normal, either. It was probably going to be only a matter of time before someone stopped them on the sidewalk and asked what they were doing and why Sixer looked like _that._

Maria started running scenarios through her head and frowned when she found that most of them asked if Sixer was into animals at an almost unhealthy level.

_Nope. Gonna nip that one in the bud if it ever comes up._

Thankfully, they weren’t stopped. It seemed as though Maria and Sixer were lucky and arrived in this town on a day when there wasn’t anything going on out in the streets. Or maybe it was so warm out that not many people wanted to be out and about.

“Looks like we managed to catch the town on a better day for us,” Maria commented.

“Because there aren’t many people out?” Sixer guessed.

“Yeah. It means we’re not being stopped and people aren’t asking tons of questions about what we’re doing or why I’ve got a metal board or why you look like that.”

Sixer considered that, then nodded. “I…can see how that would be advantageous.”

“I just hope that we don’t get sprung on when we get to the cathedral.”

Thankfully, they arrived at the cathedral without any incident other than stares from a mother and her child across the street. Maria was about to turn her head to look at them when the mother hastily pulled her son further down the sidewalk and away from the two of them.

She had only been thinking about asking why they both had their phones out and were swiping their fingers across the screens. A game of some kind?

As Maria walked up to the doors of the cathedral, Sixer lingered at the base of the stairs. Maria paused halfway up and looked at him, frowning.

“Everything okay?”

Sixer fidgeted. “I…something about this place feels like I shouldn’t go in.” His tails twitched, making him look more agitated. “I-I don’t know _why,_ but it just—“

The doors opened behind Maria, and a man with graying hair and wearing a basic black set of priest’s robes stepped out. “What’s all this? A living demon on my doorstep?”

Maria whirled sharply and glared at the priest, her gaze harsh. “Sixer _isn’t_ a demon. He may look like something from out of Asian folklore, but he _isn’t_ a demon.”

The priest frowned. “And how do you know that? The creatures of Asian mythologies are clearly spirits that are tricksters by nature – they can lead you down a darker path that—“

“There’s a lot more at stake than my faith in this situation!” Maria snapped. “He didn’t  _ask_ to be changed! He didn’t _ask_ for his dimension to be destroyed!”

That got an odd look from the priest. “His dimension?”

Sixer’s ears pulled back a little. “Maria, is it wise to tell him?”

“I was going to have to tell him anyway when I asked for holy water.” Maria made a huffing sigh of irritation. “I just wasn’t expecting to do it out in the open like this.”

The priest’s eyes narrowed. “Come inside, young lady. I would like to speak with you in private.”

Maria blinked in surprise, then looked over at Sixer. “But what about—“

“This place has been blessed against beings such as himself. He can wait in the gardens on the grounds, but that is the closest he will ever get to the sanctuary.”

Maria frowned. “But all that’s happened to Sixer is…he was changed from _being_ human; why would that make him—“

“If he was changed, then it is likely that demonic forces were involved,” the priest replied briskly. “He will not be able to set foot in a church until he has been cleansed of that demon’s touch.”

Oh.

Maria’s mouth pressed into a straight line, and she looked over at Sixer. He looked a little uneasy; he’d been listening to the conversation.

“I-I’ll be all right,” Sixer said. “You go on.”

Maria hesitated, but then the priest put a hand on her shoulder.

“Come. I’m sure he can take care of himself.”

Maria didn’t move until she saw Sixer start to walk around the cathedral to find the gardens that the priest had mentioned. Then she let the priest guide her inside and into his office.

“So. You are a believer of alternate dimensions.” The priest steepled his fingers.

“Not a _believer,_ per say.” Maria let go of her hoverboard; it dropped, then started to fold itself up into a square the size of a small backpack. It disappeared a moment later, causing the priest’s eyebrows to raise. “Sixer’s dimension was destroyed by a triangular demon resembling the All-Seeing Eye symbol on the back of the one dollar bill. _That’s_ why he looks like he does. And he’s coming to this dimension, but the disaster is going to be confined to Gravity Falls for a little while before it’s unleashed on the rest of the dimension. We intend to stop him there.”

The priest stared at Maria, saying nothing. Then he walked over to a bookshelf at the back wall of his office and started looking over his books. “I thought there was something familiar about you the moment I laid eyes on you.”

Maria frowned. “What do you mean?”

“You’re Katie’s daughter, aren’t you?”

That caused Maria to freeze. “What?”

“I’d recognize that look in your eyes anywhere.” The priest pulled a volume off his shelf. “And judging from the look currently on yours, she never told you that she had a brother in the ministry, did she?”

Maria blinked in confusion. It took her a moment to find words. “I – It never came up. Mom never said that she _had_ a living brother.”

The priest blinked. “A living brother?”

“Yeah. She said something about an accident that her brother Martin had gotten into while studying to be a catholic priest, but she never went into any details about it from what I remember.” Maria rubbed the back of her head.

“Hm. Well, here, we keep up rather regularly, so she’s come to me a few times about things she and her family have gotten up to. Apparently, her eldest son is gone again for some strange tournament that apparently happens yearly.” The priest frowned. “Did you ever go to something like that?”

“Once. But then I kinda got kidnapped and pulled into something else. I haven’t attended since.”

Smash Worlds had been…an _experience._ Considering that Wily had tried to take her back under his control pretty close to the end.

Being her first use of the Protocol, it had been…something that Maria wasn’t about to forget anytime soon.

But still. _Matthew_ going to the tournament, and not her?

“Ah.” The priest – no. Technically, she should be calling him Uncle Martin, shouldn’t she? – opened the volume in his hands. “How old are you, child?”

“Older than the 600-year-old kitsune outside.” Maria sighed when he shot her a look. “I’m not lying about this. Look, there’s an apocalypse coming at the end of the summer, and if we don’t prepare ourselves in every way possible, Gravity Falls is going to basically explode and pull this entire dimension into an armageddon of weirdness and chaos that only _barely_ resembles Lovecraft. And by that I mean that it starts there and goes off in its own direction. Sixer and his family were caught up in it in their dimension, and now it’s coming here.”

“I see.” Martin frowned. “While that sounds impossible, considering the stories that Katie has told me, I doubt that it’s completely…and what do you need from me?”

“Holy water,” Maria replied. “There’s one demoness in particular who has caused Sixer trouble, and I think that might be able to help against her.”

“Caused trouble how?”

Maria looked uneasy. When Martin continued to stare at her, she stammered out a quiet answer that caused him to turn red in the face.

“I see.” His response was terse. He slammed the volume in his hands shut, then put it on his desk. “Come with me.”

Maria followed him into the sanctuary. The quiet pews and occasional people kneeling in prayer did nothing to lower Maria’s unease and need for what she had come there for. Some looked up as they passed, but not all of them.

Martin led Maria to a back room behind the altar that contained a number of refrigerators. “Now, holy water isn’t something that most people outside of the faith consider as an actual liquid. Considering your words, I assume that you believe otherwise?”

“I’ve seen things that people can and will consider impossible,” Maria replied. “Right now, the debate over whether or not holy water exists is not something I’m concerned about.”

“…right.” Martin turned and opened a refrigerator, then pulled out a plastic water cooler that looked like it could hold five gallons. “Now, how much do you need?”

Maria opened her mouth, then paused. “…depends. The demon in particular I’m going after is named Pyronica. She’s a henchie to the big bad who wants to cause the end of the world, and she is highly proficient in _fire._ I can probably even the ground in that regard because I’ve gained access to a few things, but I’d rather not put myself in front of a wall of demonic flames if you know what I mean.”

“Hm. What sorts of things do you have access to?”

Maria summoned a fireball, causing Martin’s eyes to widen sharply.

“My goodness….”

“I can do a lot more than that, but the fire’s what I rely on the most.” The fireball dissipated. “And I can’t do that against a demoness who can use it herself.”

“I suppose you hope then that the holy water won’t turn into steam on contact with her.” Martin looked Maria over.

“I’ve had my powers dampened by water before. I don’t see why I can’t at least _try.”_ Maria shrugged.

Martin considered that, then nodded and handed the water cooler over. “When will it happen?”

“Sometime around the end of August. It’s gonna be confined to Gravity Falls first, and if we don’t stop it in time, _then_ it will spread to the rest of this dimension.”

Martin nodded. “You’re going to need more than that, I think. Expect me next week to come by with more. I will be looking for a proper explanation from you then on what you have been doing, young lady, because the Maria I know isn’t capable of something like that.”

That was a little surprising. “She hasn’t unlocked her ability yet?”

“She hasn’t _left_ this dimension for any reason.”

That wasn't something Maria had been expecting to hear. "Oh."

When Maria and Martin walked out of the cathedral, Maria hid the cooler under her jacket, sending it off to her subspace pocket. When her hand came back empty, Martin raised an eyebrow.

“Now, what—“

“What do you mean, he’s coming here?!”

The Ford-like voice yelling from somewhere to their left caught Maria’s attention and cut Martin off.

“Sounds like there’s something going on.” Maria dashed down the stairs and started to run around the building. Martin shouted in surprise after her and quickly followed.

The gardens were easy and clear enough to reach – just run around the building and there it was: a small collection of arranged flowers and trees, arranged nicely.

And Sixer was backed up against the cathedral’s wall, a counterpart of his keeping him there with an arm across Sixer’s chest. The counterpart _also_ had a gun in Sixer’s face.

“Hey!” Maria started over, getting their attention.

Sixer, who had been looking nervous, relaxed visibly with a sigh of relief that caught his counterpart’s attention.

“ _That’s_ the one?” the Ford hissed. He was in portal garb, so clearly he hadn’t returned home yet. Considering his hair was brown with the beginnings of a gray stripe, it looked like he still had some years to go. “She’s just a kid, how did she—“

“Don’t let her appearance deceive you,” Sixer replied with a knowing gleam in his eyes.

“Yeah; his Cipher has a bounty on _my_ head.” Maria walked over to the two of them. “Come on, Ford, drop your weapon. Sixer’s not gonna do anything.”

Ford looked between Sixer and Maria, then gritted his teeth in frustration and stepped away. “You need to get out of here, kid. If he’s coming here—“

“I’m not leaving.” Maria folded her arms across her chest. “We rescued Sixer _and_ his family from Cipher. I’m not about to force us to start dimension hopping in order to just barely stay ahead of him. That’s only going to cause more dimensions to fall apart, and since this one’s a Gravity Falls ‘verse, I doubt you want that to happen, either.”

Ford snorted. “You think you can stop a Cipher that has destroyed countless dimensions before this one, _and_ remain alive by the end of it?”

“Yes. Because Cipher did something that was incredibly stupid.” Maria grinned. “He merged _four_ Gravity Fallses together. And he gave us _plenty_ of time to prep. You should see what Fiddleford’s built – the Shacktron 2.0 looks like it could punt the Fearamid right into the cliffs and leave it _stuck_ there.”

Maybe a bit of an exaggeration, but Maria was pleased when she saw the surprised look on Ford’s face and the flicker of a smile on Sixer’s.

“Fiddleford did what?” Ford said.

“These four dimensions have also defeated their respective Ciphers before the merging,” Sixer spoke up. “Everyone in Gravity Falls knows what’s at stake.”

The look on Ford’s face clearly said he hadn’t been expecting that.

“Excuse me,” Martin spoke up. “Martin Vigo, the priest for this church. Why were you so antagonistic towards him? I assume from your reactions that the two of you have…met?”

Ford’s face hardened. “I’ve heard rumors; I haven’t met him before this moment.” He sent a glare at Sixer, who took the glare in stride. The kitsune just looked tired in return. “He is Cipher’s _pet,_ sent out to collect Fords and destroy dimensions.”

Martin looked pale.

“Because he was forced to!” Maria jumped in. “Puppeteer did _something_ to his soul; he _couldn’t_ resist, and he still can’t. Except that he’s with me now, now that crazed three-sided lunatic!”

“Which I know _now,”_ Ford replied. “But you can’t expect the rest of the multiverse to know that _Death_ was actually _Puppet.”_

Sixer winced, ears flicking back, but he didn’t argue.

Maria gritted her teeth in response. “I hope to Primus _that_ wasn’t the nickname for Sixer that Stanford sent into the Council of Fords.”

There was another flicker of surprise on Ford’s face, but he reigned it back quickly. “If he’s coming here, then I need a way out of this dimension quickly. My counterpart informed me that you would know a way for me to leave?”

Maria frowned at Ford. As much as she disliked his derogatory and accusing tone towards Sixer, she knew he had to get out of their current dimension.

So she grabbed his hand, and focused.

“What are you—“

A flash of blue from the contact cut Ford off abruptly.

“…Dimension 44-BZ,” Maria said after a moment. “There we go.”

“How did you—“

“I’m a walking stable portal generator, been one for _centuries,_ now shush.”

Ford shut his mouth, wide-eyed, while Sixer grinned at him, looking smug.

Maria ignored them both and her alternate still-living Uncle Martin as she brought her hands to her chest and focused.

_Come on, come on…let his dimension be open this time._

There was a build-up of energy in her chest then, and it quickly rushed down Maria’s arms, giving her a blue aura.

“And—Ha!”

Maria threw her arms forward and sent the energy off her arms in the process. The energy very quickly condensed in on itself, forming a flat, circular blue disk of swirling energy.

“Go on.” Maria made a shooing motion at Ford. “Your dimension’s wide open for some reason; your Cipher didn’t seal it off.”

“Of course he didn’t; he’s already dead,” Ford huffed.

“What?” Maria snorted. “How? Did you go through Weirdmageddon already?”

“No. I was one of the ones who ran into a counterpart who was _caught_ and escaped. _He_ said Cipher said that someone was going out and killing Ciphers, and had gotten to mine.” Ford nodded to Sixer, who blinked a couple times.

“The Breakout,” Sixer said. “Which one did you meet?”

“The one in Entropy’s cell.” Ford shrugged. “He escaped with another Ford who had a Rick’s portal gun.”

Sixer frowned. After a moment, he nodded slowly. “I remember that green explosion. It’s good to know that he managed to escape.”

Ford blinked, then shook his head and snorted. “Just don’t get yourself stuck again. I think you owe us that after so many years of trouble.”

He then turned and strode through the portal without another word.

Maria flicked her wrist, causing the portal to wink out of existence. “Well, he was rude.”

“…he likely has a lot on his mind,” Sixer replied quietly. “I just confirmed to him that I had not made a deal with Cipher for my power, much less my current position.”

He had not _wanted_ this.

“He likely will have a lot to think about now, especially now that he has returned home and he doesn’t have a Cipher threatening him,” Sixer added.

Maria frowned.

“So that is what my sister and her family do,” Martin said with some amazement. He gained a more determined expression a moment later. “I’ll get you more holy water over the next few weeks, but it takes time to bless it. You’re in Gravity Falls, you said?”

“618 Gopher Road, Uncle Martin,” Maria replied. “At the Mystery Shack.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Martin frowned. “And I think it might be wise to call the family you have _here._ ”

“I—“

“I know they aren’t _technically_ your family, but I think they would appreciate seeing a counterpart of _our_ Maria, even for a little while.” Martin started back towards the cathedral’s entrance. “Just think about it, young lady. I look forward to the look of shock on my sister’s face when she discovers what her daughter has gotten up to.”

Maria blinked as he walked away, not exactly sure what to say to that.

“…you got the holy water?” Sixer asked behind her.

Maria stiffened a little, then gave a stuttering answer while she nodded. “Y-yeah. I’ve got some. Let’s head back.”

Sixer nodded, then shifted down to his fox form. He looked at her expectantly.

Maria sighed. “All right.”

Her hoverboard dropped out of thin air and hovered next to her. She stepped onto it, then flew off down the street. Sixer followed after her.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be posting a day early next week. Or maybe a day late. I'm working on Black Friday, and while I am not looking forward to the chaos of THAT, I do want to make sure that you guys get the next chapter for this.
> 
> Because the next chapter? We're getting into the finale.


	38. Weirdmageddon

It was late August.

The sky was clear, the weather was warm but not unbearably wet or sticky, and there was a calm over the town that could only be felt in summer. Nothing pressing for children to worry about other than playing in the sun and at the public pool and spending time with friends.

At least, that’s how it was _last_ summer, when the only people who had known the apocalypse _could_ be coming were Fords and Dippers.

Now, there was a tension in the air that caused the calm to feel more like unease. And _everyone_ felt it.

Maria felt like she was walking on glass shards as she and Sixer walked through town. People hurried from place to place, barrier bracelets on and glinting rainbows in the sunlight. Most looked like they wanted to stay indoors, and those out in the open had armed themselves with axes and Ford-made, sci-fi pistols.

Sixer’s tails twitched in agitation. He was feeling the same energy, but his gaze flicked from person to person, and house to house.

“He’s close,” he said under his breath. “He has to be.”

“We woke up this morning feeling like this dimension was waiting on baited breath; of course he’s close,” Maria replied. “I’ve been feeling like there’s something in my chest waiting to burst.”

“Then why aren’t we waiting in the Shack?” Sixer replied. He sounded nervous. Maria didn’t blame him, but she wasn’t letting her own nerves show.

She had spent too much time fighting to not be able to fall into those guarded habits.

“There’s too much energy to deal with,” Maria replied. “If the two of us had stayed in the Shack we would be pacing and would rather be outside. Being in town in case it goes off today is better than waiting.”

Sixer swallowed. “Maybe, but we’re still out in the open.”

Maria’s chest – no, her power core – started to ache. She rubbed at her chest, hoping to dispel the pain. No such luck. She winced a little and shook her head. “Maybe. But we’re prepared. Things may get rocky, but things are—“

Maria cut herself off with a grunt when the pulse of pain in her chest increased abruptly. The pulse caused her to stumble.

“Maria?” Sixer hovered over Maria worriedly. “Are you all right?”

Maria righted herself and shook her head. “I’m fine. Just feels like someone tried to gut-punch me.”

The pain faded, then pulsed again, causing Maria to stumble and wrap her arms around her middle. It felt like she _should_ be hurling, but the mechanical body she had didn’t have a stomach to hurl things _from._

“He’s coming.” Sixer’s voice was barely heard over the pounding pulse in Maria’s ears. It was like she was in a glass chamber and someone was knocking against it.

Maria hissed from between her teeth. “He’s testing the dimensional walls. He has to be. And the fact that I’m feeling this much pain means—“

A  _burning_ pulse hit her, and she cried out and fell to her knees. Maria closed her eyes and gritted her teeth against the pain. _Now_ it felt like the air pressure was increasing, pushing down and down and down until—

Maria heard the sound of _something_ ripping that was never supposed to, and the pain almost immediately faded into a dull ache. She shook her head and started to look up.

And then the crazed laughter started.

_“AW, LOOK AT THAT! GRAVITY FALLS! SEEING IT ALL IN ONE PIECE IS MAKING ME NOSTALGIC FOR ITS DESTRUCTION!”_

Through the large, circular tear in the sky above, Maria could plainly see the giant eye-smiling, garish yellow triangle that was currently the cause for all her trouble. From merging four dimensions together to causing Sixer so much pain and anguish, he was the source.

And as much as Maria was mad at him for it, seeing Cipher face-to-face – so to speak – left her with a cold chill in her core that she’d felt _very rarely._

She could remember this sort of intimidation hitting her when she had first faced down the crazed, time-demigod Legendary known as Primal Dialga. She couldn’t remember if she had felt this recently.

Sixer quickly helped Maria to her feet. His expression was mostly blank, but his eyes and slightly fluffed-up tails gave away his fear.

Maria didn’t need to ask him to know that he was just as terrified as she was.

 _“SINCE MY LAST GRAVITY FALLS IS NOW NOTHING BUT INTER-DIMENSIONAL STARDUST, I’M MAKING THIS PLACE MY NEW BASE OF OPERATIONS.”_ Cipher – no, _Puppeteer,_ that had been the name they had agreed on thanks to Stanford – floated through the rift and into their dimension. _“I HOPE YOU’RE ALL LOOKING FORWARD TO WHAT I’M GOING TO DO TO THIS DIMENSION, BECAUSE I KNOW THAT I AM!”_

“We need to go – now,” Sixer hissed. He looked around at the street, and Maria only noticed now that the townsfolk were frozen in fear. Everyone was staring up in wide-eyed shock and terror.

“Let’s get these guys to the Shack or the mansion,” Maria said as Puppeteer turned to face the rift. “They’re facing down their most terrifying nightmares. We have to snap them out of it.”

_“ALL RIGHT, HENCHMANIACS! YOU KNOW THE DRILL – TIME TO GET OUT THERE AND HAVE SOME REAL FUN MESSING THIS PLACE UP! PARTY TIME!”_

The cackling, crazed sounds that answered Puppeteer made Maria’s core drop for a moment. Her eyes narrowed as figures started to appear in the rift, but she was gritting her teeth. A part of her was telling her to run, to protect everyone she could. Another part was telling her to get up to the rift and attempt to seal it.

She got the feeling that she would be unable to do one of those things.

“Guys, we have to move – now!” Maria barked. “Get to the Shacks or Fiddleford’s mansion, but we have to move! We can’t remain as sitting ducks here!”

That got them moving, thankfully. The townsfolk turned and scrambled in all directions as a crowd of creatures and humanoid monsters came from the rift.

Maria wasn’t able to recognize very many of them, but she saw Sixer’s wide-eyed gaze as he watched them tumble towards the town.

“ _All_ of them?” Sixer asked. “Why is he – oh no.”

 _“ANYONE WHO FINDS MY RUNAWAY PUPPETS GETS DIBS ON THE PINES IN THIS DIMENSION!_ ”

That…wasn’t good. At all. It painted a target on Maria’s back just as much as Sixer probably had one already.

Maria and Sixer exchanged looks.

“Back to the Shacks?” Sixer asked.

Maria nodded vigorously. “We can’t take them all at once. We need backup.”

Sixer nodded in agreement, and the two took off down the street.

Explosions went off as the Henchmaniacs hit the ground and started going after the buildings and people in town. Not many of them landed in Sixer’s and Maria’s path yet, and of the ones that did they found themselves quickly distracted by the townsfolk and their weaponry. Some surprised cries from the monsters suggested they hadn't been expecting the people to fight back.

Above them, the sky turned an angry red as Puppeteer cackled madly. Something rippled across the landscape, causing a shudder to run down Maria’s spine as the town’s buildings were suddenly changed to a kaleidoscope of colors that hurt to stare at, much less keep them in their peripheral.

Sixer, on the other hand, didn’t bat an eye. Maria suspected he had seen this too much to be thrown off by it.

People were still running screaming in all directions as they tried to avoid the monsters spewing from the rift. Some shot at the monsters, getting roars of pain from the creatures. Those roars quickly turned into anger as the weird creatures retaliated.

Maria thought she saw a purple demon with horns and sparking lightning get shot in the face with an axe from Manly Dan.

“About time,” Sixer muttered. “Couldn’t stand that damn attitude of his.”

The creature hissed and spat, then turned and snarled, electricity sparking from his fingers. “How dare you, you—“

Maria shot a fireball into the monster’s face, forcing him to shut his eyes and screech in pain.” Dan, run!”

“No way!” Dan readied another axe. “I’m not letting these things turn me to stone again! I’m gonna carve this thing a new one for thinking he could turn me inta barbecue!”

The lightning demon hissed and turned, tracking where Maria’s voice had come from. The scorch march across the bridge of his nose and the whites of his eyes suggested he had gone blind at some point. “Who—“

The demon was promptly cut off with another axe to its lower jaw, bringing out another howl of pain.

“GO!” Dan bellowed. “I’ll be fine!”

Maria hesitated, but then nodded and took off running again. She had to jump in order to avoid a charcoal grill that had become animated and was skittering across the sidewalk on unusually short legs.

“That was one of the new ones?” Maria asked.

“What do you mean?” Sixer kept pace with her, glancing back over his shoulder to make sure they weren’t being followed.

“A minion Puppeteer made after Weirdamgeddon started.”

“Ah. Yes, that’s…one of them.” Sixer frowned. “The first one.”

“Really? Well, I hope he gets what’s coming to him.”

_“COME ON, FELLAS! LET’S GET THAT FEARAMID MOVED IN HERE FROM THAT CRAPPY DEAD DIMENSION! MY PUPPETS’ PLACE HAS LOST ITS LUSTER, YA KNOW? THIS DIMENSION’S GONNA BE MY NEW DIGS!”_

Maria looked over her shoulder just as Puppeteer motioned a familiar, large, black pyramid through the rift. If she’d thought it was huge before when she’d watched the cartoon, she was completely unprepared for its actual size. It was _gigantic._

It took a second for Puppeteer’s words to actually register.

“’Lost its luster’?” Maria repeated. “But then – that means your dimension is—“

Sixer grabbed Maria’s arm and yanked her off the street and into an alley, just as a bubble of weirdness energy moved up the street in the opposite direction. Screams came from the direction the two had come from as it disappeared.

“I’ve…seen the decay from his throne room,” Sixer said carefully after a moment. “I…suppose it was only a matter of time.”

He sounded defeated by the idea. Maria didn’t blame him – a part of her felt it meant that Sixer wasn’t going to be able to see his dimension _whole_ ever again.

Even if they beat Puppeteer, Sixer’s dimension would just…collapse. It would leave him and his family homeless.

Dimension-wise, anyway.

“Sixer—“

“We should keep moving, I think.” Sixer peered out of the alley as what looked like a muscular cthulu stomped by, crushing buildings on the other side of the street. “We’re sitting ducks out here, Maria, and as much as I could tell you, I would rather not do it in the middle of all this.”

Maria’s expression became more determined. “Right. Sorry.”

This was something they could look into talking about later. When Puppeteer was dead and gone.

The two waited for a head being dragged by its attached arm to move past them – it had sharper teeth than what Maria remembered from the cartoon – before bolting out into the open and down the streets of ruined buildings. Only a few minutes into Weirdmageddon and it was already starting to look like the world was in an accelerated ending stage.

Maria could hear yells and gunshots going off in the distance. People were fighting back, but how many? And for how long before the Henchmaniacs got the drop on any of them?

The town very quickly gave way to a red-dirt wasteland, the trees pushed a fair distance back. Monsters of every shape and size dotted the landscape, occasionally fighting each other or chasing after humans and creatures that normally only live in the woods.

“We’re too exposed,” Maria said grimly.

The look on Sixer’s face said he agreed. “We’ll need to move quickly.”

“And not get caught.” Maria flipped backward onto her hoverboard, activating her armor as she did. “Let’s roll!”

The two of them bolted out from the half-decent shelter of town and towards the woods. Maria kept her own pace level with Sixer’s, but was surprised to find that he could keep a steady, fast pace that most organics wouldn’t be capable of.

Either it was the adrenaline, or Sixer was just changed enough that his speed was increased.

The first group of monsters they happened to cross paths with were rather promptly met with twin spheres of fire to their faces. They fell back screaming, scrambling to get away from the two while the townsfolk in front of them blinked in surprise.

“Get to safety!” Sixer barked. “And quickly!”

“I sure hope you two are, too!” Lazy Susan piped up from the group.

“That’s the plan,” Maria muttered. She could see other groups of townsfolk fighting back while the sky blazed apocalypse red above their heads, and as much as she wanted to help them, they had to get out of the range of fire, too.

Before Maria and Sixer got caught and forcibly separated, by—

“There you are, Fordsy!”

Maria’s train of thought was cut off abruptly by a voice she didn’t quite recognize. Female, somewhat screeching, _trying_ to sound alluring—

And then Maria saw the look on Sixer’s face.

Sixer had gone wide-eyed and still, all the blood draining from his face so quickly it was like a vampire had latched onto his neck. His ears were up and trembling, as were his tails.

Maria followed his gaze and saw _her,_ standing not all that far behind them.

Tall, curved, magenta-colored, one-eyed, horned, and covered in flames.

She _had_ to be the _ugliest_ person Maria had ever laid eyes on.

The way Pyronica was staring at Sixer only multiplied that fact.

Maria stepped forward and moved between the two of them. “Sixer.” She kept her voice low and even. “Remember what we talked about?”

Sixer shifted behind her. “Maria, you can’t—“

“Distraction, remember?” Maria glanced back at him, expression serious. She would not let him see her fear. _“Go._ I’ll be fine.”

Sixer hesitated, and Pyronica made a cooing noise that caused him to stiffen again. He was very quickly going from scared to downright terrified.

“Fordsy, is that your new master? Boy, she looks _dull._ I don’t suppose she plays with—“

Maria yanked a modified super soaker out of her subspace and shot a blast of holy water at Pyronica.

The blast hit her in the stomach, which resulted in a screech of pain from Pyronica and the sound of sizzling skin. She wrapped her arms around her stomach and doubled over.

Maria gave the scene a nod and glanced back.

Sixer was looking between the two of them, still wide-eyed.

Why hadn’t he run yet?!

“GO!” Maria yelled, snapping him out of his stupor. “Get to safety – I’ll catch up with you later!”

Sixer jolted and nodded quickly, then turned and ran for the woods. He shifted to fox form mid-stride and disappeared into the trees without looking back.

Maria turned to glare at Pyronica as the demon straightened herself.

“You think you can keep him from me?” Pyronica demanded. Her hands became coated in pink-purple flames. “You’re not fit to stand between me and him!”

“We’ll see about who’s standing!” Maria shot back. “You’re never laying a finger on him ever again!”

Maria leveled the super soaker at Pyronica and prayed that she would be able to get away alive from this encounter.

She wasn’t about to let the demons win. Not when they had completely destroyed countless lives and dimensions already.

As a World Jumper, she knew this would not go unpunished for much longer.

 


	39. Water Bomb

Maria knew the basics of what to expect from Pyronica. The demoness was a fire demoness, which meant that she _should_ only have fire at her disposal.

Unless there were other tricks up her sleeves besides, which in that case Maria had to be ready.

The modified super soaker in her hands looked more like an assault rifle bazooka – Fiddleford patented, of course – and the way Pyronica was glaring at it and Maria suggested that she wanted it to melt out of Maria’s hands right then and there. Thankfully, it didn’t. Maria needed the holy water in it to stand even a sliver of a chance against the demon.

“All right, little girl,” Pyronica sneered. “You want to play with fire? Well, it’s time that you were _burned to ash!”_

Twin streams of pink-purple fire lunged for Maria, and she raised her free hand.

The shield of fire that rose forced Pyronica’s fire to bounce off in two different directions. One hit a green copy of Pyronica a short distance away. She screeched before having her eye shot out by Gideon, while the other stream of fire bounced over Pyronica’s shoulder and into the town somewhere.

“What?!”

“You’re not the only one who knows how to play with fire,” Maria replied. She kept her hand raised, eyes narrow. She couldn’t shoot Pyronica while she had her shield up like this – the holy water would sizzle into steam on contact with her shield.

Pyronica gritted her teeth. “If you weren’t so _infuriating_ I would say that you’re _interesting._ I can’t wait to tear you apart!” She lunged forward, hands sparking with fire.

Maria dropped the shield and _moved,_ zipping out of the way on her board while blasting Pyronica again with another round from the holy water super soaker. Once again, the demoness screamed in pain, but now she tumbled to the ground and curled in a ball, hissing as her side sizzled from contact with the blessed substance.

Maria rose up on her hoverboard and aimed again, aiming for Pyronica’s head this time. She needed to do _more,_ if she was going to give Sixer time to get to the Shack – and distract Pyronica _enough_ that she could get to the Shack herself.

Maria shot again, but there was a sudden flash of pink-purple flame, and the shot turned to steam in an instant.

The demon was learning.

Maria gritted her teeth and hissed out a curse that sounded like two metal gears that didn’t fit together well. She kept the holy water gun on hand as she looked for a moment where she would have to defend herself – or possibly a chance to fight back and completely beat Pyronica to a pulp so that she could run and hide.

She needed to get back to the Shacks.

She didn’t know if they were planning something already for Cipher’s demise or not, but she wanted to be able to help.

And she wasn’t going to be _able_ to help if something happened that she didn’t want.

Pyronica pushed herself to her feet, snarling. “Oh, I’m going to get you and take you apart and figure out where you got that power, little girl.”

Maria was tempted to spit back an answer, but she didn’t. Instead, she leveled the holy water gun at Pyronica again.

She’d been counting the shots. There were quite a few left in there yet if Maria wanted to keep shooting.

Or go for the “Plan B” that Fiddleford fixed in there when she’d asked him for help.

Since Pyronica was wise to Maria shooting already, she might have to go for Plan B far sooner than she would have wanted to. Demons of all kinds disliked holy water, after all – it only made sense that Pyronica would not be the _only_ Henchmaniac here with that weakness. However, Maria wasn’t planning on fighting them with the holy water.

Maria hissed through her teeth as Pyronica charged up and fired another blast. She barely just managed to dodge it, ducking underneath the flames and flying to the side as best she could in order to avoid the pink-purple lightshow that followed after her.

The fire just barely brushed past her leg as the flames came in for another pass, and Maria felt _pain._

This was the kind of thing Maria had been expecting. Pyronica’s demon fire was  _not_ normal fire, nor was it fire that a Pokémon such as a Vulpix or Ninetales was capable of using. Just going by the color alone was enough of an indicator that this wasn’t fire that Maria would have been able to absorb for an energy boost.

And it turned out that she was right.

Maria stumbled forward suddenly on her hoverboard as the flames ate into the metal of her leg. She just managed to drop out of the flames’ line of fire, the hoverboard wobbling as she nearly lost her balance.

She put her free hand on the board, dropping down into a kneeling position in order to recover her balance.

Pyronica burst out laughing. “See? I _told_ you that you couldn’t handle the fire! Now be a good girl and tell me where Fordsy’s gone. The boss has got a special plan just for him, and he needs him—“

Maria hit a button on the barrel of the super soaker and threw it at Pyronica with as much strength as she had. “No fragging way are you getting him!”

The explosion of steam and fire that resulted had Pyronica screeching in more pain than Maria had been inflicting on her so far. It was a sound that grated against Maria’s ears and left her wincing back and away from the sight.

Right. She could get away from Pyronica now. That was _definitely_ enough of a distraction to give Maria time to—

A large black hand suddenly grabbed Maria from behind.

“Hey!” Maria’s surprised yelp came out a little more indignant than she was likely intending to sound. She wriggled, trying to get out of the grip, only for the hand to squeeze and cause the metal of her armor to strain against it.

_“WELL WELL WELL, LOOK WHAT WE HAVE HERE.”_

The voice came from behind Maria, and she stopped trying to get out of the hand’s grip.

_Oh, scrap._

_“LOOKS LIKE WE CAUGHT OURSELVES A LITTLE TROUBLEMAKER!”_ Puppeteer continued casually. The Cipher turned his fist around so that Maria could see the giant triangle and his equally giant eye glaring down at her with the sort of angry look that made her want to shudder, but Maria restrained herself.

She didn’t want to show any weaknesses to the demon that tore Sixer apart.

“Let me at her!” Pyronica shrieked from somewhere behind Maria. “She insulted my good looks and refused to give me Fordsy!”

 _“SORRY, RONNIE – AS MUCH AS I WOULD LOVE TO SEE THE TWO OF YOU CAT FIGHT, THIS KID’S ALREADY GOT A DIBS HANGING OVER HER HEAD,”_ Puppeteer replied. _“I’D GIVE YOU SECOND DIBS, BUT THESE GUYS HAVE GOT PLANS FOR THIS. LITTLE. **WORLD JUMPER.”**_

Maria did _not_ like the sound of that. She gritted her teeth and did her best to keep down the rush of fear that came up. “So you _did_ get the Dark Arms to merge these worlds together! I’d suspected that was the case as soon as I got here!”

 _“RIGHT ON THE NOSE, KID! AND I THINK THEY DID A PRETTY GOOD JOB KEEPING THESE WORLDS STABLE FOR ME, UNLIKE THEIR LAST LITTLE PROJECT. I CAN’T **WAIT** TO SEE WHAT OTHER DIMENSIONS THEY’VE DRAGGED INTO THIS – THE CHAOS THAT CREATED!” _Puppeteer’s eye curled up in a smile. _“AND YOU’RE GOING TO BE AT THE FOREFRONT VERY SOON.”_

“Like hell I will,” Maria spat back. “I’m not letting those monsters get into my head ever again!”

Her body was starting to heat up a little, the temperature raising as she tried to prep a fire attack that could get her freed from Puppeteer’s grip so that she could _get out of there._

Puppeteer rolled his eye. _“YEAH, SURE. LIKE I’VE HEARD THAT ONE BEFORE.”_ His grip on her tightened, and her armor screamed in response. _“I KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TRYING, KID. DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT YOU’RE GOING TO BE ABLE TO—“_

Maria spat a flamethrower at Puppeteer’s eye.

_“GAH!”_

Instead of letting Maria go, the Cipher’s grip on her only _tightened_ while he put his free hand over his other eye. The pain of her armor starting to _dent_ and mold into Puppeteer’s grip made Maria cry out in pain herself.

Her pain only made Puppeteer laugh as his eye quickly healed from her fire. _“SEE WHAT I MEAN? FOR THAT, I SHOULD CUT YOU OFF FROM FORDSY RIGHT HERE AND NOW, BUT I DON’T SEE HIM, WHICH MEANS HE’S OFF SOMEWHERE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF A UNICORN BARRIER, ISN’T HE?”_

Maria, who was gritting her teeth against the pain of her misshapen armor, snarled in response. She didn’t want to show her fear that Sixer could drop, but the fact that Puppeteer couldn’t _see_ him meant  _that_ conclusion, she couldn’t help but grin. He’d gotten back to the Shacks – one of them, at least – and now he was among friends.

Puppeteer’s eye narrowed. _“LOOKS LIKE YOU’RE AS ANNOYINGLY **SMART** AS FORDSY. WELL, IF I CAN’T GET MY PUPPET **BACK,** I MIGHT AS WELL SEE ABOUT MAKING A **NEW** ONE._”

The chill that ran down Maria’s spine made the grin drop from her face immediately.

Oh. Oh dear.

Puppeteer was planning on tearing her apart in the same way that he had torn apart Sixer and his family.

She didn’t like the sound of that.

Puppeteer’s eye turned up in a smile. _“I’M GOING TO LOOK FORWARD TO THIS. YOUR BUDDIES HAVE BEEN LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING ME WORK.”_

That got Maria to spit back her responses.

“The Dark Arms and you are going to get what you deserve for this!” Maria yelled. “Don’t think that you can get away with anything!”

Puppeteer burst out laughing. _“WHAT, YOU THINK THINGS ARE GOING TO CHANGE NOW THAT I’VE RUN INTO YOU? YOU’RE JUST A LITTLE SPECK IN COMPARISON TO ME. INSIGNIFICANT.”_

Maria gritted her teeth.

_“NOW – I’D RATHER NOT KEEP MY **GUESTS** FROM THEIR PRIZE! I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO **BREAKING YOU IN.”**_

“I’d like to see you try!” Maria snapped in reply.

A last act of defiance, something whispered in her head.

She shuddered at the thought, but pushed it back as much as she could.

If Sixer and the others were coming up with a plan to stop Puppeteer and save this dimension – as well as who knew how many others Puppeteer had forcibly changed – she hoped they would do it soon.

She didn’t want to know what might happen if she was forced to fight against them.

And, she didn’t want to know what might end up happening to Sixer.

**Change in POV**

Alcor had been watching the fight from the trees with Journal and Andrew, observing the back and forth between Maria and Pyronica and – eventually – the moment when Puppeteer snuck up on Maria from behind moments after she had set off the bomb hidden in the blaster.

Alcor chuckled darkly when he saw Pyronica screech about wanting a piece of Maria. **“That is going to leave a mark.”**

 **-Indeed-** Journal’s form – more billowing and shadow-like than paper – rose over Alcor and Andrew. **–I should think it is time we made sure that we had our piece of her as well, before she retreats-**

 **“Got somethin’ in mind?”** Andrew grinned widely.

**-I do-**

Journal left the shade of the trees and flew across the wasteland like a giant, shadow-y bat. Pyronica saw him coming, but she looked annoyed, not surprised.

“About  _time_ one of you showed up.” Pyronica kept a hand up over her face, trying to hide it from view. “Go find those Pines hiding out in the woods, if you haven’t already.”

**-I think you are mistaken on what I am here for-**

Alcor flew up while Andrew ran after them, the demonic Stan’s form looking more like a barreling gorilla than anything else. **“We’re here to settle a few things for a nice little family who has seen a bit too much.”** He grinned, sharp shark teeth glinting even though there was no sunlight to speak of.

Pyronica looked between them in confusion. “What?” Her eyes widened. “You – you’re the Pines of this dimension?”

 **-And you have overstepped boundaries that were not meant to be crossed-** Journal reached out one large hand. **–Alcor, if you would?-**

 **“Sure.”** Alcor rubbed his hands together. **“Where do you think?”**

**-Take your pick. So long as she ends up mortal on the other end, it does not matter. She will meet her intended fate-**

“H-hang on, what are you talking about?” Pyronica brought up her other hand, fire sparking from the knuckles. There was something about Journal that had always been unnerving, and it looked like he was only getting to be even _more_ so.

Alcor was _mos t_ pleased by this.

 **-You have gotten yourself involved in Cipher’s deal, where he has taken but not given in return-** Journal’s hand grabbed the hand that was over Pyronica’s face. **–I believe it is time you paid the price for such actions-**

Pyronica’s eyes widened, but before she could offer a response, a ripple of power ran down Journal’s papery, shadow-covered arm, and she let out a shriek of pain.

Alcor stretched out his hands, and a tear formed in the space behind Pyronica, jagged and rift-like in shape. **“Have fun wherever you end up! And remember – you don’t get any do-overs!”**

 **-Andrew-** Journal pulled back his hand as Pyronica’s form started to smoke.

 **“Way ahead of ya.”** Andrew moved forward as Journal and Alcor moved back. He swung one of his massive fists, preparing for a punch, then threw it forward and connected with Pyronica’s stomach.

“Hrk!” Pyronica doubled over, only to get a punch to the face, followed by two more successive punches as she was forced back into the open rift. It sealed shut as soon as she fell through, taking the fire demon away from the chaos that Cipher was creating.

Alcor grinned, exchanging looks with Andrew before looking up at Journal. **“I feel pretty satisfied. How’d you know you’d be able to turn her mortal like that?”**

 **-Weirdmageddon causes many strange things. It is not impossible that such a thing could happen-** Journal looked at his hand for a moment, then closed it. **–Pyronica will see what it truly means to be mortal in every sense of the word, and will have bad luck follow her wherever she goes and whatever she attempts. She will be thought of as disgusting by all who meet her, and will be forced to die alone – something, I believe, she fears greatly-**

 **“Good.”** Alcor grinned. **“What now?”**

**-Let us return to the Shack. I believe that there are some plans being discussed that we will want to be a part of-**

 


	40. Survive

To say that Maria was _not_ having a good day was an understatement.

First Weirdmageddon, then Pyronica, then Puppeteer, and now the _Primus-damned Dark Arms._

Hanging from glowing blue chains in the middle of Puppeteer’s throne room was not a good position to be in when she was at the mercy of the most dangerous monsters in all of creation – in her opinion.

Puppeteer's sense of décor wasn’t so great, either – there were six torn tapestries hanging from the walls, each with a different familiar figure screaming in terror, and a throne made of the petrified figures of familiar townsfolk. Sometimes it almost looked like the eyes of the tapestries _moved,_ but it might have been a trick of the wind.

Maria  _knew_ that these people weren’t from the Gravity Falls below…but at least she knew there was a chance that the townsfolk of Sixer’s version of Gravity Falls could still be rescued. She hoped that would still happen.

Puppeteer rubbed his hands together gleefully. _“YA KNOW, IT’S NOT EVERY DAY THAT I GET A WORLD JUMPER IN HERE! I KNEW YOU PEOPLE WERE RECKLESS TO A FAULT, BUT TAKING ON PYRONICA ALL BY YOURSELF? TALK ABOUT GUTS! TOO BAD YOU DON’T HAVE ANY ACTUAL ONES – I’D LOVE TO CUT YOU OPEN AND HAVE A LOOK!”_

 ** _“We need her_** **intact, _Cipher,”_** hissed one of the two figures with him. Tall, dark-robed, and with heads adorned with elaborate horns, the Dark Arms were creatures that Maria hadn’t seen since she’d been forced to reset a part of the multiverse.

A sight Sixer and Puppeteer had _both_ seen from a distance, apparently.

 _“YEAH, YEAH, DON’T GET YOUR ROBES IN A TWIST.”_ Puppeteer waved him off.

Maria glared at the three of them. “I don’t intend to make any of this easy for you.”

Other than generating shields, she hadn’t made use of much of her energy. If need be, she could use it to retaliate against him.

Most likely, she was going to have to use it to survive for as long as she possibly could.

One of the Dark Arms huffed while the other tilted his head.

 ** _“Do you expect us to take it easy on you?”_** the first sneered.

Now Maria remembered why she _hated_ listening to their voices – the Dark Arms had a terrible voice that sounded smooth and rough at the same time. It was almost like pouring oil and grinding rocks together at once. And she’d been forced to listen to it for a _long_ time already.

“No. But that doesn’t mean that I’m going to just drop my defenses, either,” Maria sneered back. “You’re not getting back in with any of your Mind Tech.”

 ** _“What makes you think that we would try?”_** the first replied.

The second very quickly hid a black box he had been pulling out of his robe. Maria narrowed her eyes at him in response.

 _“BOY, YOU GUYS HAVE QUITE THE HISTORY!”_ Puppeteer cackled. _“BUT I THINK IT’S TIME WE GOT TO THE REASON WHY WE ARE ALL HERE – TURNING THIS NUISANCE INTO A PUPPET FOR YOUR OWN SCHEMES!”_ He paused. _“BUT IF THOSE SCHEMES GET IN THE WAY OF MINE, THEN WE’RE GOING TO HAVE A PROBLEM.”_

 ** _“We will not interfere with your deeds, Cipher,”_** the first replied.

By this point, Maria had the inclination that this one was the more experienced of the two. She hadn’t gotten to the point where she could tell how _old_ a Dark Arms alien was, but considering that this one was talking more than the other, it was likely he was the other’s superior.

Or, at least, someone who had run into Maria _before,_ considering that the second’s red eyes were looking her over with an angry curiosity. He wanted to tear her apart.

She wasn’t going to let that happen.

 _“SO!”_ Puppeteer rubbed his hands together again. Electric blue sparks shot off as a result of the friction. _“SINCE THIS WORLD JUMPER SOUNDS SO CONFIDENT, LET’S SEE HOW WELL SHE HOLDS UP!”_

Maria’s fists clenched as she stiffened her arms. She was a walking hunk of metal – she knew this. Tied down as she was with her arms above her head and her feet with chains leading down to the floor far below, she wouldn’t be able to run.

So the best thing she could do was grit her teeth, make sure all her data was stored in her core as a backup, and bear the brunt of Puppeteer’s assault as best she could.

Puppeteer stopped rubbing his hands together. _“CLEAR!”_

As soon as he slammed his hands into her, the electricity _jolted_ through her system, tearing through circuits and burning through wires in an attempt to get out or find a way to settle into Maria’s system. She threw back her head and screamed a glitched sound between a machine wailing and a human shrieking in pain.

This was more pain than she had felt in a _very_ long time, and considering how it was tearing through her systems, she was going to need a _lot_ of repairs very soon.

And then the electricity stopped. Maria hung there, a smoking metal husk that was barely functioning. So many of her systems were in the red she was considering diving deep into her core and just letting Cipher have fun messing around with the metal shell she lived in.

There was a glitched sound that might have been fingers snapping…and the damage reversed itself.

The entire process was highly uncomfortable, and it left Maria squirming as the excess electricity was drained from her system and her circuits were restored to proper working condition.

 _“SO I MAY HAVE OVERDONE THAT A LITTLE.”_ Puppeteer sounded like he could not care less about the situation. _“I’VE DONE WORSE WITH FORDSY, I DON’T SEE WHAT THE BIG DEAL IS.”_

 ** _“The Fire Storm’s systems are not built to handle that much voltage at once,”_** t he first hissed.

 ** _“We will need to improve on her systems,”_** the second said.

Maria didn’t like the sound of that. She clenched her fists again and pulled herself up a little, tightening the chains on her feet in the process. She glared at them through narrowed eyes and gave a low, metallic hiss that meant a number of things.

Mostly a number of swear words in a language no human would ever be able to speak.

Puppeteer’s eye widened in surprise while the second Dark Arms hissed angrily and started to move forward.

**_“Why you little—“_ **

**_“Hold.”_** The first moved in front of the second. **_“She is testing your patience. Do not give her the satisfaction.”_**

But the second Dark Arms’ reaction already _had._

Maria kept her expression guarded, but inside, she was grinning.

The second one was _definitely_ the younger of the two. Good to know.

Puppeteer side-eyed Maria. _“THERE’S MORE THAN ONE WAY TO SKIN A CAT. LET’S SEE HOW WELL SHE DEALS WITH EVERYTHING ELSE I HAVE IN MY ARSENAL.”_

Maria raised her chin. “I’ve been nearly killed before. Don’t think it’s going to be easy.”

But if Puppeteer was planning on tearing her apart and putting her back together, she got the feeling that things were not going to be very pleasant or painless.

 ** _“Do not kill her,”_** the second said. **_“I want to be able to order her to cut off the heads of her loved ones.”_**

Maria’s eyes narrowed into slits. “You _already_ killed my parents, and the _rest_ of my family passed away from old age or other circumstances. So you can damn well _try,_ but you’re not going to find anyone that fits _that_ bill.”

The second looked taken aback, but Puppeteer looked…amused.

_“WE’LL SEE.”_

Maria didn’t like the sound of that, and quietly braced herself.

She wasn’t about to let Puppeteer do whatever he could. Not easily, at least.

_I hope you’re safe, Sixer._

**Time Break**

Maria wasn’t sure how long Puppeteer went for, but she did keep track of every single…”creative” torture that he threw her into. He manifested a volcano in the middle of the throne room floor and dropped her into it in order to see how much she could handle before she started melting. He froze her to the point that her limbs broke apart and she would have fallen into pieces if Puppeteer hadn’t reset her again.

He tore her apart into her base components and put her back together again…then gave her an interested look.

_“HMM….YOU TWO GO AHEAD AND TRY TO POKE HER A BIT; I’M GOING TO GO GET THE HENCHMANIACS LOOKING FOR MY PUPPETS.”_

With that, Puppeteer vanished abruptly, leaving Maria and the two Dark Arms alone in the throne room.

The two tall aliens looked at each other, then at Maria. She met their gazes with an exhausted, but sour expression.

“If you think that you can get that Mind Tech to work, think again,” Maria spat. “You’re not getting into my head like that, and I doubt that Cipher would appreciate you trying to sneak around behind him for his deal.” Maria grinned with her near-perfect teeth, broken down and repaired multiple times over as a result of the torture and Puppeteer’s bringing her back.

The second Dark Arms bristled, then started to advance. The first once again intervened.

 ** _“Antagonizing us? You would not have dared before,”_** the first Dark Arms said.

“You’ve got me in a situation where I’m chained up and at your mercy. What have I got left to lose?” Maria grinned, the expression sharp and knowing. “Does Puppeteer know that you gave him a dimension made of four alternates, rather than four different franchises? Because there’s no way that this dimension could possibly be this stable if you did _that.”_

The two aliens stared at Maria with their glowing red eyes, saying nothing.

Maria took it as something of a victory. She straightened herself up as best she could. “You’re not going to get a stable world if you try and use me again. You know that, and I know that.” She glared at them. “So why are you trying to do something with me that failed centuries ago?”

The Dark Arms stared. Maria glared back, determined not to lose a staring contest and not to let herself look weak.

She wasn’t about to let them find an opening in her to take advantage of.

 ** _“You do not need to understand what it is that we wish to accomplish,”_** the first Dark Arms said to Maria. **_“You do not have the capability to understand our true intentions.”_**

Maria snorted. “You don’t know how the multiverse works, and neither do I. Your little machinations with me nearly caused a number of dimensions to collapse a part of the multiverse – shoot, some worlds _did_ collapse! How do you think this time is going to be any different?”

The Dark Arms said nothing.

Maria would have folded her arms across her chest if she wasn’t chained. So these guys weren’t going to talk about what they were up to? That’s fine. She’d still stop them regardless.

If she could get out of this situation alive and whole.

 _“MAN, THIS DIMENSION IS THE CHALLENGE I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR!”_ Puppeteer popped back into his throne room. Maria stiffened in surprise at his sudden entrance. _“THE PINES KNOW HOW TO DO THINGS I WASN’T EXPECTING! IT’S ALMOST LIKE THEY’RE IN MULTIPLE PLACES AT ONCE!”_

The Dark Arms said nothing.

Maria also said nothing, watching Puppeteer to see if he had figured out what was _really_ going on.

 _“WELL!”_ Puppeteer rubbed his hands together. _“I THINK IT’S TIME TO TRY FISHING FOR SOME ANSWERS ABOUT YOU, KID. WHY—“_

“You’re the all-seeing eye; don’t you know everything about me already?” Maria asked cheekily.

That got her a dead-eye stare and a shock of electricity for her trouble.

 _“LESSON ONE: PUPPETS DON’T ASK QUESTIONS, THEY ANSWER THEM,”_ Puppeteer said. Maria bristled. _“NOW, WHAT I’M MOST CURIOUS ABOUT IS HOW YOU MANAGED TO GET HERE AND ALMOST DISTRUPTED **EVERYTHING** IN THE PROCESS.”_

The triangle flickered red as he spoke, making a show of his anger.

Maria managed to keep a straight face. While she had only seen a mad Cipher in a cartoon before, she _had_ faced off against a large number of giant, angry creatures before.

Puppeteer was giant, and angry. She could handle this.

“Maybe your buddies should have remembered that dimension mergings of _this_ scale attract my attention,” Maria said matter-of-factly. “ _And_ that prominent main characters _never merge with each other.”_

That got a number of blank stares.

 _“I WAS UNDER THE IMPRESSION THAT YOU WERE COMBINING DIFFERENT DIMENSIONS WITH A GRAVITY FALLS,”_ Puppeteer said slowly. _“AND THAT YOU JUST HAPPENED TO CHOOSE A GRAVITY FALLS THAT WAS ONE OF THE NATURALLY WEIRDER ONES.”_

 ** _“The dimensions will only be stable if we merge identical worlds,”_** the second Dark Arms defended. **_“Otherwise this dimension would have collapsed before your arrival, or found and reset by a World Jumper!”_**

Ah, so he _hadn’t_ known.

Well, that made the chance to stir up some dissent all the more possible here.

Maria was not known for thinking things through well when it came to taking advantage of people’s short tempers. An unfortunate fact of life, but Maria was going to take full advantage of herself here.

“What do you think I did last time these bozos tried that?” Maria grinned. “Really, though, you guys should’ve checked to make sure that everyone was home, because  _guess who I brought~”_ The grin dropped. “And then I found out about your mess.”

Puppeteer let out a _scream_ of rage and hit Maria with an electrical burst, burning out her inner circuits again. Then he reversed the damage and did it again. And again. And again.

When he finally stopped, Maria felt like she was having phantom muscle spasms from the electrical jolts. Which, considering she was an android, that should have been impossible.

 _“I THOUGHT THERE WAS SOMETHING ODD,”_ Puppeteer said. _“NOW I HAVE TO GO THROUGH AND FIND EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM BEFORE THIS ALL FALLS APART!” ****_

 ** _“I doubt they would have been this coordinated if the World Jumper was not involved,”_** the first spoke up. **_“We are willing to step up and correct our mistake.”_**

The second turned to look at the first. **_“You would—“_**

 _“GOOD. BUT I’M GOING TO HAVE YOU TAKE CARE OF THIS LITTLE NUISANCE FIRST.”_ Puppeteer motioned to Maria. _“FIND HER SOUL AND TEAR IT OUT, LIKE WE DISCUSSED.”_

Oh, no.

Maria started pulling on the chains, trying to get herself loosened from them so that she could avoid Sixer’s fate. She didn’t want to be made into a puppet; she didn’t want to lose a third of her soul.

She wanted to stay _whole._

Unfortunately, fate did not seem to be on her side today, because she remained where she was.

The elder Dark Arms stepped forward and tore off Maria’s chest plate with a swipe of his claws, seemingly without a second thought. The burning pain that slammed into Maria’s torso as a result brought out a scream of pain that sounded like a metallic shriek. The sound would have caused normal ears to bleed, but neither the Dark Arms, nor Puppeteer had human ears.

A soft blue glow could be seen coming from Maria’s chest, and she knew what it was coming from – her circular, glowing, blue crystal core, which she’d had ever since she had started World Jumping across dimensions.

 _“SO, SHE’S IN THERE?”_ Puppeteer looked over the Dark Arms’ shoulder at her core.

 ** _“Indeed,”_** the elder replied. **_“Mechanical or not, she still has a soul. And soon, it shall be ours.”_**

The Dark Arms reached forward while Maria tried to pull back—

And her vision went dark red as her screams ripped through the throne room.

 


	41. Rescued

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Behold, the climax of this story.
> 
> Well, part of it, anyway -- if you want to get the whole feeling for what's going on, make sure to read Sixer's half over in the story Puppet AU: Recovery!

Maria could feel something in her core being tugged and _yanked_ at. It felt horrible, like her life was going to end at any moment if something wasn’t done.

And then someone else _besides_ her started screaming, and Maria’s core started feeling…funny.

Her soul, which felt like it was just _barely_ staying together, suddenly snapped back into place with such a speed that Maria grunted from the whiplash.

As her vision started to clear from the dark red, Maria started to hear a Dark Arms voice speaking in a panicked tone.

 ** _“What is this and why has it overtaken my arm?!”_** the elder Dark Arms demanded in an uncharacteristically unnerved tone of voice. ** _“You said that removing her soul would be easy, so why did this happen?!”_**

Spots danced across Maria’s vision as she tried to focus on what was going on. Her head was felt fuzzy and heavy, and her chest was throbbing with sharp pain. It felt like something had drained a lot of her energy.

Considering what had just _happened,_ that wasn’t surprising. And when Maria’s vision cleared, she was able to get another piece of that puzzle.

 _“WELL! I CAN’T SAY THAT I’VE HAD THIS HAPPEN BEFORE!”_ Puppeteer looked over the crystalized forearm of the alien with some surprise. _“HUH. GUESS THIS KID REALLY DOES HAVE SOMETHING KEEPING YOU OUT.”_

It took Maria longer than usual to realize that she had seen something like this happen before.

_Rourke._

Seeing the arm transformed into glittering, bright blue crystal – and remembering the man-turned-crystal golem monster from her first foray into the multiverse – Maria laughed weakly.

Crystals protect that which they deem most important. And Maria’s core, made of the exact same material as the crystal in Atlantis, had done exactly that.

“Not…gonna…get it,” Maria said weakly, but with satisfaction and relief. She wasn’t going to be anyone’s puppet today.

An alarm started blaring across her vision – _warning: energy low. Warning: extreme amounts of damage taken. Stasis lock imminent._

Puppeteer’s eye narrowed, and he gave Maria a quick, minor zap that got a yelp of pain in response. _“THERE’S GOTTA BE A WAY TO WORK AROUND THAT DEFENSE MEASURE. LET’S SEE…._ ”

A blue Henchmaniac with a keyhole in his head burst into the room. “Boss! We got trouble!”

_“LITTLE BUSY RIGHT NOW, KEYHOLE.”_

“But – the prisoners! The Fords – they’re escaping!”

 _That_ got Puppeteer’s attention. _“THEY’RE WHAT.”_

“S-someone released them! I don’t know who but – they’re getting out!”

Puppeteer let out an annoyed groan. _“LOOKS LIKE THOSE PINES GOT INTO MY PALACE. YOU THREE – GO ROUND UP THOSE FORDS. I’VE GOT SOME TROUBLEMAKERS TO FIND.” ****_

 ** _“What about the World Jumper?”_** The younger Dark Arms motioned to Maria.

_“ARE YOU KIDDING? DOES SHE LOOK LIKE SHE’S GOING ANYWHERE? SHE’S ALMOST UNCONSCIOUS – TRUST ME, WE’RE GONNA COME BACK AND FIND HER STILL HERE AND OUT COLD. HER SOUL WILL BE EASIER TO TAKE THEN – SHE’LL BE ALL OUT OF ENERGY!”_

Puppeteer cackled as he led them out of the throne room, and Maria’s head dropped to rest against the exposed circuitry in her torso.

Unfortunately, the Cipher was right. It wouldn’t be too long before she’d be unconscious, and they would tear her apart.

And then—

“Maria?”

…only one Ford sounded as quiet and concerned as that.

Maria lifted her head slightly. “Six?” Her core sparked, and she winced.

Something rattled the chain connected to her left ankle, shaking her foot as Sixer climbed up. Maria was able to watch him do so, surprised and more than a little worried about him.

What was he _doing_ here? He was in the lion’s den!

Sixer reached Maria and wrapped an arm around the chain holding her left wrist in place. He reached over and grabbed the chain on her right ankle, causing the blue metal to dissolve. Maria’s right leg hung limply in the air.

Since when was he able to do that?

“I’m getting you out of here,” Sixer said. “The others are keeping Cipher and the Henchmaniacs distracted, but I don’t know how long that will last.”

Maria coughed, spitting out a couple drops of a blue liquid. Energon. Had attempting to tear out her soul done some damage to her inner systems? “R-reckless.”

Sixer paused in reaching for Maria’s right wrist, then looked her in the eye. “You’re too important to let Cipher take you. You know that.”

She did know that.

She just wasn’t expecting Sixer to say it to her.

Maria blinked slowly as Sixer grabbed the chain on her right wrist, letting her hand drop as they swung abruptly backwards; Sixer gripped Maria’s armored shoulder and the chain attached to her left wrist for support. “C-can’t d-do m-m-much. W-weakened. C-core hurt. T-taking e-everything…to not go into s-stasis lock.”

If he was expecting her to be able to help, she wasn’t going to be much of one. If anything, he was going to get her out of these chains, then be forced to drag her unconscious body out of the Fearamid. And being slowed down like that might cause him to be caught.

Sixer paled. “He did it? He didn’t – he didn’t take—“

“No.” There was a fire in Maria’s eyes for a moment. “Core t-too strong.”

Visible relief crossed Sixer’s face. He was just as glad to know that she hadn’t been torn apart like he was. His expression quickly became more serious. “We still need a little help. You remember, when you summoned those three Pokémon to settle what was happening with my emotions?”

“Y-yeah.” Maria nodded, a little shakily. Lien, Merlin, and Jewels. That morning in November felt like it was years ago, even though it hadn’t.

Sixer tapped against the chains binding her left ankle, forcing him to cling to her more while hanging onto the chain above their heads. They swung, but Maria didn’t mind the added weight of his body too much. She was strong enough for this, for at least a little longer. “Do you think you can do it again?”

Maria frowned at the question. He wanted…allies? More help? It seemed like a good idea, and they _had_ offered assistance.

“Sh-should be able to.” She reached behind her, visibly opening a small portal in space and pulling out her PokeDex with a shaky hand. Sixer reached around her to help hold it steady with one hand as she held one end of the device close to her mouth and took in a deep breath.

“Palkia, Chaos, I-I’ve got a problem. Dark Arms level problem, m-maybe w-worse. G-gonna black out; t-talk to Sixer t-to get the d-details.” Maria let her hand drop, the device seeming to dissipate into the air. “C-can’t st-stay awake. G-gotta…recover…”

Her vision went fuzzy, then completely dark.

**Change in POV**

Vash did _not_ like the people that Puppeteer spent time with. All these monsters and creatures that did not have any concern for human life made him furious.

But at the same time, he wasn’t going to be the one to end the life of any “Henchmaniac” that he came across.

“So, you’re from Sixer’s dimension?” Vash ducked under a swatch of green flame and fired on the monster that had sent the fire in his direction. He wasn’t breaking out the wings yet, and he wasn’t using one of Ford’s guns, either. He trusted his bullets more than one of those laser weapons. “Does that mean you knew him or that you just ran into him?”

“I _thought_ I knew him.” The version of Alex Pines next to Vash – more broad-shouldered than the Alex he was familiar with – jammed his Ford-made weapon in the face of a creature that was more tentacles than limbs and fired. The monster screeched and stumbled back, its one visible eye clearly no longer working. “Turns out I just knew my Uncle _Stanley,_ not _Stanford.”_

“You mean Crescent?”

Alex looked at him oddly. “You call him what?”

“Crescent. And Ford is Sixer, Dipper is Pine, and Mabel is Star.” Vash paused when he saw the look Alex was giving him. “It’s because there’s so many different versions around. Counterparts, you know? So they got nicknames when they got here to tell them apart.”

A loud shriek of pain echoed from somewhere in the Fearamid, and Alex took the opportunity to shoot out one of 8-Ball’s cracked eyes, sending him on a stumbling rampage as he fell to more blindness. Wendy gave them a thumbs-up, then leapt up and swung her axe at the Henchmaniac’s head, screaming a war cry.

“And they’re helping you _how?”_ Alex asked.

“We rescued them.” Vash paused. “Well, Maria did – she’s the one who got caught.”

“How? That –“ Alex ducked under a stray shot of friendly fire. It hit a snake-like monster behind them; it gave a screeching hiss at it fell. “That demon back there said that they were his slaves for the rest of eternity! I’ve heard him gloating about it!”

“Turns out Maria found a way to switch them from one person to the next. So she got Sixer, Stanley got Crescent, Mizar got Pine, and Sphinx got Star.” Vash emptied his gun of empty shells and dropped another round in.

“Are you really going to keep using something that archaic?” Alex frowned.

“Hey – it works. And I’d rather not pull out my trump card for…reasons.” Vash shot another Henchmaniac in the eye, sending it scrambling away from them.

There was a fierce gust of wind, and five Henchmaniacs near them were suddenly sliced in half, revealing Knives floating five feet above their heads on wings made of a bone-like material, sharper than anything humans could forge.

And his hair wasn’t turning black. At all. The black lightning-bolt streak from their tussle on Gunsmoke was still there, yes, but it wasn’t getting _bigger._

_-Come, brother. Let us show these creatures from between dimensions what it truly means to live between worlds-_

Vash gulped. “You sure it’s safe?”

“The hell?” Alex said in amazement.

Knives’ conscious scraped against Vash’s quickly, giving him the feeling that yes, it was _more_ than safe.

Vash’s gun disappeared into the folds of his geranium red cloak, and he breathed in.

The energy that had been pouring out of the rift hit him immediately, causing feathers to sprout up his arms as wings grew from his back, turning his entire form almost white in the process.

“What the—“

Vash held out a hand to Alex. _–Relax. I’m still me. I’m just…less human than you thought I was-_ He gave Alex a sheepish grin while his thoughts fluttered across the other man’s mind like feathers. _–We’re probably the least crazy thing that you’ve seen-_

And with that, Vash took off and joined his brother above the battlefield, a large cannon replacing one arm as he prepared to aim at the monsters below.

In another part of the large corridor of the Fearamid, Stanford and Shermie stood back-to-back, shooting down the Henchmanaics that tried to come close.

“He did _what_ to my grandchildren?!” Shermie roared.

“Tore a third of their souls away from them and bound them to him _using_ that third,” Stanford repeated. He shot rapid-fire at the nearest Henchmaniac and only scored two hits – both in the eyes.

“How the _hell_ is someone capable of doing that kind of thing when—“

“Cipher is a demon who has powers that rival a _god’s_ when he puts himself in a Weirdmageddon scenario,” Stanford replied. “The _only_ way to take him down from this state is to find a microscopic chink in his armor. Something that he _won’t_ be expecting to happen.”

Shermie sent a blast down another monster’s throat, causing it to stumble back gripping its neck like it just swallowed something uncomfortable. “And how likely is that?”

“Very slim – but I think we’ve got him this time.” Stanford aimed again and hit the next approaching Henchmaniac up its nose.

Shermie stared at his brother’s counterpart over his shoulder. “Either you are aiming very well or you are extremely lucky.”

“I have been both.”

Shermie shook his head in disbelief.

“Run away!” screeched a Henchmaniac. “Cipher is _losing!_ ”

“What?” Hectorgon, his mustache burned off on one side, snorted. “I find that hard to believe.”

A shot hit one of the shape-demon’s corners, causing him to pause. “On second thought, fleeing is a very good idea!”

The older Henchmaniacs scattered, leaving the room less crowded with Henchmaniacs. The ones that had likely once been human snarled and looked like they were about to make their final stand.

Vash and Knives turned as one and faced the approaching line of Henchmanaics. They held their arms forward…and they were suddenly armed with giant cannons with the forms of women carved into the sides.

The energy burst that followed tore a giant hole in space, sucking the remaining Henchmaniacs down into its vortex and causing them to disappear from the Fearamid.

Vash shifted back to his not-alien-angel form more quickly than Knives, but he could still feel his body thrumming with energy from the rift.

“Okay.” Vash cleared his throat as Knives touched down next to him. “I think we’ve pretty much taken care of them.”

“And you didn’t do that earlier _why?”_ grumbled the gargoyle Stan.

“Because my brother was concerned that he was going to cause his life force to drain to the point that he would have lost his life,” Knives replied. “Do not fault him for his fear; it is a wise one to have.” He looked around. “In the meantime—“

_“THIS IS FOR PIEDMONT, YOU JERK!”_

The Fearamid shook suddenly as multiple explosions went off down another hall.

The assembled Pines exchanged looks.

“That sounded like a Mabel,” said Dipper. “Star?”

Mizar grinned widely, her demonic Grunkles on either side of her. Andrew had a large amount of mysterious, liquid substances on his knuckles, and there was a gleam to Journal’s glasses that made him seem…more hungry than usual. “Sounds like it’s quite a show! Let’s go see what they’re doing!”

“Sounds good to me!” Mabel agreed.

The two of them took off towards the room in question, the rest of the crowd of Pines following closely behind.

A ghost moved up to join Stanley as he was running, catching him by surprise. “Ma! Don’t do that! Yer gonna make me have a heart attack!” He paused. “Sorry. Yer not really _my_ Ma.”

“I’m _still_ yer Ma, dimensional shenanigans or not,” replied the ghost of Cassandra Pines. “An’ I’ve been stuck waitin’ fer this chaos ta end fer the last 600 years. I’m lookin’ forward ta seein’ this all come to an end an’ my boys bein’ _safe.”_

 _“WH-WHAT IS THIS?! I MADE YOU! YOU CAN’T JUST DO THIS TO ME!”_ came Cipher’s voice from down the hall.

They reached an open doorway leading into the throne room just as a blast of fire slammed into Cipher’s eye, exploding into a star shape.

“For my family.”

Sixer’s voice carried across the throne room, despite the large number of creatures that were scattered throughout it. Among them was a giant, black figure with a shifting form and so many eyes it was hard to say the exact number. Star and Pine stood on its shoulder.

And in a pinkish bubble further back, between a creature that was shaped like the moon and another that was made of shadows, was Sixer, holding Maria’s unconscious form close with one hand. Little trails of smoke rose from the fingertips of the other – clearly, he had been the source of the fire blast.

Cassandra floated to the front of the group and watched as Sixer – her living, changed son – moved around from under Maria and leapt out of the bubble and onto the back of a large, green, snake-like dragon. He left Maria behind, floating unconscious in the bubble.

 **“I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time.”** The black being grabbed one of Cipher’s flailing arms, and the crowd at the door noticed that Cipher was tied down by vines – the source was Pine, his eyes glowing blue as he focused on keeping the demon triangle still.

“Crescent?” Stanford asked in surprise.

Crescent tore the flailing arm out of its socket, then whacked Cipher in the eye as yellow-black energy sparked from the open tear in the demon’s bricks.

Star landed on Crescent’s shoulder next to Pine. The dragon creature flew up at the same time, letting Sixer leap off and onto Crescent’s shoulder before retreating again.

Star took off again, flying high above their heads and gathering starlight on her hands before holding them up above her head and throwing them down in Cipher’s direction. “This is for all the stuff you made us do!”

_BOOM!_

The wall exploded, and a _meteor_ came flying in and slammed into Cipher and the wall he was pinned up against. Cracks appeared in the wall, but it held, even as cracks appeared in Cipher’s form and caused him to shriek even _more_ loudly.

_“HOW DARE YOU!! I DON’T DESERVE THIS KIND OF TREATMENT!”_

**“Yeah, you do,”** Crescent growled as Pine started motioning again, causing more vines to appear and grow _into_ the cracks in Cipher’s form, causing the demon to whine and make other noises of discomfort and pain. **“This is nothing compared to what we went through. Sixer.”**

Sixer looked up at his brother’s face as he turned to look at the kitsune standing on his shoulder.

**“How hard can you hit this freak?”**

Sixer didn’t even pause. _“Hard.”_

Fire started to gather, starting with Sixer’s hands and the tips of his tails, then spreading up his arms and coating his torso in burning, red-gold flames.

Cipher struggled, trying to do something as his entire form flickered, but then a giant pink and white dragon with a pink gem in one arm slammed a foot into the ground and caused a rip in space to suddenly appear across Cipher’s middle for a moment. The flickering stopped a moment later.

_“WH-WHAT THE—“_

_“Your powers are not yours to use, Cipher,”_ the dragon snarled. Strangely, the crowd of people at the entrance could hear his voice in their heads. _“They have been taken from you, as you took them from others.”_

_“YOU DON’T HAVE THE POWER TO--“_

_“I am a_ god  _in my dimension. Do not say what I can and cannot do.”_

Fire covered Sixer’s body entirely now, lapping at his clothes and forming into something that vaguely resembled the trench coat his counterparts wore. With abrupt swiftness, the flames were siphoned off him into a giant sphere in front of him, and with a loud roar, Sixer squeezed the giant sphere.

The resulting _beam_ of fire and light shot out of the large sphere as Sixer shrank it down, hitting Cipher right in the eye and leaping onto the vines, eating at them greedily and slipping into Cipher’s insides.

_“EEEEEEEYAAAAAAA! IT BURNS!”_

“Whoa.” Vash was wide-eyed. The only time he had seen that much energy used at once...

…well, Maria didn’t call some of her attacks a last resort for nothing.

Sixer finished with the sphere of flames just as Star unleashed another barrage of meteors on Cipher’s thrashing, burning body.

Crescent took a step closer and leaned down a little, a large, sharp-toothed grin appearing on his black, feathery face between sets of glowing green eyes. Then he lifted a foot and slammed it down as a claw, then a hammer-like shape, onto Cipher’s bulging eye.

The high-pitched _squeal_ that followed made the crowd of onlookers wince as Cipher lashed beneath Crescent’s foot, screaming something incomprehensible as his form shifted through different colors, different shapes, before becoming a large red triangle.

He reached up with an angered scream. _“PINES!”_

 **“Die,”** Crescent snarled back, pushing once more against the eye.

Something audibly snapped in Cipher, and he stiffened suddenly before flashing gold and scattering into smaller pieces, which fell into the fire and caused the flames to suddenly explode upward in gold-red fireworks before falling back among the vines.

Crescent pulled his foot back quickly and started shifting downwards, the feathers flattening out into something more familiar as Sixer and Pine slid off his shoulder and landed on the black brickwork floor. Star landed near them, looking tired but very much satisfied with her work.

A giant water monster that looked _nothing_ like the rest of the creatures present in the throne room moved closer to the pile of flames and vines. **_–I DO NOT SENSE HIS PRESENCE-_**

The Fearamid shook suddenly, and the group looked up.

The Fearamid was starting to come apart and fly upward, brick by brick, into the rift that was cut into the sky.

“It’s done.”

Alex looked at Stanford. “You’re sure?”

“Absolutely. I’ve seen this happen once before.” Stanford motioned up as the Fearamid started to slowly come apart. “Our world should be turning back to normal very soon.”

A loud crashing noise came from somewhere in the throne room, followed by the sound of a multitude of people groaning.

“The giant throne!” Alex realized. “Did that come apart?”

“Sounds like it.” Stanford stepped into the room. “We need to get those people out of here now.”

“People?!”

The Fords in the group immediately sprinted across the room, avoiding creatures in their haste to get to the throne in the back of the room.

By the time they arrived, some of the creatures were already moving the people onto their backs. A few pink, spherical creatures with egg pouches were directing them.

And sure enough, they were people from Gravity Falls – people _Vash_ had seen fighting outside against Henchmaniacs up to a few moments ago.

“…these guys are from Sixer’s dimension.” Vash looked over at Alex, who was staring in shock against the unconscious figures. “They’re survivors, like you.”

“Their dimension no longer exists.” Knives folded his arms across his chest, frowning. “Where are they going to reside now?”

“We’ll figure something out,” Stanford replied. He quickly got the attention of one of the pink creatures. “Take them to the Shack out in the woods! We’ll figure out who we can send them to for shelter from there!”

The pink and white frilly creature that was looking at him snapped to attention and saluted. “Blissey!” The creature then scrambled about, getting the attention of the others as the floor started to come apart.

“Get on!” Vash looked around, then scrambled up on top of a large red-and-black bird. “Come on! Everyone get on a Pokémon!”

“Is that what these things are called?” Stanley looked around in confusion. “All of ‘em?”

“Yes! Now get on!”

Everyone scrambled to get on different creatures both large and just barely big enough to hold their weight as the Fearamid came apart, and they moved down to the forest floor below as the trees settled back into place.

As they went down, Vash noticed that Sixer was lying unconscious on the back of a large, dog-like creature that looked like it was trailing volcanic ash behind him. “Oh, no…he pulled a Maria.”

The bird he was sitting on twittered curiously.

“Pushed himself to the point of exhaustion.”

The bird made a noise that sounded like a knowing “aaah.”

They landed on the ground not far from the group. Vash jumped off the bird and offered a quick “thanks!” before running over to the others.

“They’re okay?” Pine spoke from the back of a long-necked, dinosaur-like creature with giant leaf wings. Crescent was sitting behind him, looking tired but still alert.

 _“They’re fine,”_ replied the feminine, white, green, and red creature standing nearby. She was holding Star in her arms – the little star fairy was completely out cold. _“Simply exhausted.”_

Crescent grunted as the crescent-shaped creature – Cress, Vash remembered now – flew down with Maria in a pink bubble behind her. A little yellow mouse wearing a red bandanna was on Cress’ back.

“I’m tired, too, but I haven’t completely blacked out,” Crescent commented.

A shockwave suddenly blasted out of the sky and across the landscape, turning the sky blue and restoring the forest and the town in the distance back to their original state.

Vash felt the energy leakage from the rift dissipate, and sighed in relief. At least he wasn’t going to be tempted to use up his lifespan and summon feathers anytime soon.

“So that’s what it’s like when he’s gone,” Pine said in amazement. His eyes seemed to grow heavy, but he forced them to stay open as much as possible. “I…think I used more energy than I thought keeping those vines in place….”

Vash winced sympathetically – both toward the boy’s exhaustion and his amazement at Weirdmageddon being reversed. He’d never seen that in his own dimension, and likely would never get the chance.

Crescent patted Pine’s head between his branch antlers. “I think we’ll be okay now, kid. Takin’ a nap doesn’t sound like all that bad of an idea, actually.”

“A little rest would do us all some good, I think,” Stanford agreed as he slipped off the back of an orange dragon with what looked like a pair of antenna on the top of his head. “The last Shack should still standing, and I doubt it’s very far from here. While getting us all inside might prove to be a bit difficult, I’m sure we’ll be able to manage.” He turned to face the giant pink and white dragon, who was standing tall behind the rest of them. “Thank you for coming to our aid as quickly as you did. I’m not sure that Sixer and his family would have been able to stand a chance otherwise.”

Palkia bowed his head in response. _“It was the least we could do; Maria has left us in debt to her more times than I think she realizes. And if assisting you here means that there will be less of a chance of this happening on other worlds, then that is a very good reason to intervene. Even now I can sense the ripples across space that this event has caused; this monster’s facets have weakened greatly from this one event alone.”_

 _“Which means that there’s less of a chance of him succeeding or even getting as close as he did here.”_ A purple cat-like creature landed on the ground, looking a little damp but none the worse for wear. His purple tail lashed back and forth. _“Now, how many of you are planning to stay?”_

“Stay?” Stanford repeated in confusion.

 _“Some of us would like to be near Maria when she wakes. I want to know how many are certainly planning on it and who would be all right with going back.”_ The creature -- the Mewtwo called Chaos -- turned to look at the large group of Pokémon. _“Because I doubt that the people here would appreciate seeing some of us nearby.”_

The large green Chinese dragon-like Pokémon huffed. _“I know, I know. We’ll let the other Legends know about what happened here; maybe Aurora will stop by for a visit or something.”_

There was a bright flash, and a large number of the large, draconic Pokémon were gone, leaving the pink and white dragon as the largest creature still standing over them.

 _“Take your time recovering,”_ the dragon said. _“You have more than earned a long rest.”_

And then he too was gone in a flash of light.

Vash blinked a couple times, then raised a hand. “What are we going to do about all the refugees?”

“We’ll…figure something out.” Stanford ran a hand down his face. “Come; I believe we have a few people we need to put in a safe place to rest, before anything _else_ happens to them.”

 


	42. Awakening

_Energy status: 60 percent. Energy reserves: low._

_Scanning…scanning…_

_Damage to chest armor detected. Repairs required._

_No dangerous signatures in immediate area._

_Rebooting…._

Maria came awake slowly, her senses switching on one by one after a thorough scan from her inner systems to make sure everything was still running well. She heard the sound of breathing somewhere in the area, but it was faint. She was…lying on something made of a somewhat stiff material.

And she felt sore _everywhere._

Maria groaned as she slowly opened her eyes. “Gah, I feel like I got hit by a Quintessan. Where’s the Energon when you need it?”

That light was bright.

She placed a hand over her eyes in order to shield them from the light while they adjusted to being awake. Was that a wooden ceiling above her head?

Then her memories of where she had been before this moment came back in a rush.

“Wait a second.”

Feeling her soul almost get torn in two – summoning the Pokémon with Sixer’s help – falling unconscious and…

…why was she in _here,_ when the last thing she remembered was being in the _Fearamid?_

Maria tried to sit up to get a better look around, only for her chest to respond with pain. She winced and dropped back onto…something.

Judging by the fact that the material didn’t have much spring to it, and the material was stiff, it felt like she might be on a cot.

“Okay, can’t move yet, something doesn’t feel—“

She caught sight of someone watching and turned her head.

There was a bed nearby. And sitting on that bed was Sixer, his ears perked up as he watched her with a cautious expression.

Wait.

“Sixer?”

Sixer smiled at Maria. He looked _relieved_ , but there were bags under his eyes _._ “Good morning, Maria.”

Maria tried to figure out what could have happened. Sixer looked _tired,_ despite his happy greeting. “What happened to you? Are you—“

“I’m fine. I’m just…a little tired.”

Sixer wasn’t going to keep the truth from her. With cautious acceptance, Maria let her unease fall back.

But Sixer’s calm response didn’t tell her everything about what had happened from the moment she had fallen unconscious to the moment she had woken up. “What happened?” She looked out the window and saw blue sky, then back at Sixer. “I can see Weirdmageddon isn’t happening, but—“

“He’s gone.” Sixer looked absolutely _triumphant_. “Cipher won’t be causing any trouble anymore.”

Did that mean…?

Maria’s eyes widened. “Like,  _gone_ gone? You mean it?”

Sixer nodded.

It almost sounded too good to be true.

Maria’s eyes quickly scanned the room, and she saw Pine, Star, and Crescent lying in beds nearby, sleeping in the hours of the morning. Sixer had said he was _tired;_ that meant he’d exerted a large amount of energy recently.

Were they all recovering from something that had happened after she lost consciousness?

Maybe fighting Cipher?

A grin split Maria’s face. “HA! Yes! Thank Primus and the Axolotl and whoever else was backing us up!” She threw her fists into the air above her head. “Ding dong the demon’s dead! Oh, I wish I’d been awake to see the look on his face when he got clobbered!”

Sixer laughed, and Maria felt that it was the first proper laugh she’d heard from him.

She wanted to be able to hear that again.

He heard the sound of feet hitting the hardwood floor outside the room, and Vash burst in as Crescent, Star, and Pine stirred, awoken by Maria’s own awakening.

“You’re awake!” Vash slammed into Maria, grabbing her tightly in a hug. “You’re okay!”

Pain shot out from Maria’s chest as Vash squeezed, and she hissed. “Not completely I’m not! My chest still feels like it’s on fire!”

“Sorry, sorry!” Vash pulled back, giving a shaky smile. “I’m just glad you’re awake.”

“About time you woke up,” Crescent muttered, sitting up. “Do you know how worried everyone else’s been over you?”

“Everyone else?” Maria responded. “Are you saying you weren’t?”

Crescent waved a hand. “I knew you were gonna wake up eventually; I just didn’t know when.”

Sixer rolled his eyes at his brother, who sent him a stinkeye while Vash helped Maria sit up. They moved slowly, so as to not aggravate her pained chest further, and it gave Maria the opportunity to ask questions.

“Well, I’m awake now.” Maria leaned against the window behind her. “And I want details! What’s happened while I’ve been out? Is everyone doing okay after Weirdmageddon? Who dealt the final blow to that eldritch monster?”

“Maria, slow down!”

Maria’s gaze moved down to the creature who was walking towards her. Little yellow mouse-like creature with a lightning-bolt tail and a red bandanna with a circular, winged pin—

She knew this mouse.

The Pokémon jumped onto the cot and sat next to Maria. “We’ve got time to explain things; don’t worry about missing anything.”

“Pika!” A delighted grin crossed Maria’s face. “It’s been a while since I’ve last seen you! How’s everybody been doing?”

“Pretty good.” Pika climbed up onto Maria’s lap and put his paws on his sides, mimicking the hands-on-hips stance that humans sometimes did. “I’m glad you called us in when you did. That guy was a nightmare.” He frowned. “Did you know that Chaos can turn into some kind of water monster if he’s exposed to enough of that Chaos Energy?”

“He did _what?!”_ Maria’s jaw dropped. “No way! I thought he couldn’t do that after shifting over into his Mewtwo form when Mobius merged with the past!” She scratched her head, frowning. “I guess Weirdmageddon let him unlock that or something…is he okay now?”

Hopefully bringing him into Weirdmageddon wasn’t going to affect him negatively.

“If you mean back to normal, yeah.” Pika frowned. “How’d you even know about that monster form in the first place, anyway?”

“Chaos’ ‘perfect’ form is something that Sonic fought a while back,” Maria replied. “Tails, Knuckles, and Amy were there, too. He was a big, watery ball of anger then, though – not so much now.” She grinned. “Boy oh boy, Cipher couldn’t have been expecting him to do _that._ ”

“Those two aliens with him certainly didn’t,” Star spoke up. “One of them got bit in half.”

Wasn’t _that_ a picture.

Maria whistled. “Man, I knew Chaos could be bloodthirsty, but that’s a bit much.” She winced a little and rubbed her chest as the pain there flared up again. “Did someone put my chest plate on wrong? It feels like something doesn’t fit right.”

Pika rubbed the back of his head. “We were in a hurry, and I don’t know you as well anymore.”

“Oh! No no no, it’s okay, it’s just – it feels like there’s dents in it or something. I’ll get Fiddleford to look at it later.” Maria sighed and winced a little. _“Man,_ though, I wish I’d been awake to see you clobber him! Who got the final blow in?”

Crescent raised his hand again, and Maria frowned in confusion. “Crushed him under my foot after Star beat him down with a couple meteors, Pine tied him down and Sixer set fire to ‘im.”

Maria’s eyes widened as she sucked in a breath sharply. “You guys…you took him on yourselves?”

She had been expecting them to be involved, but taking Cipher on _directly?_ That had to have taken a lot of courage.

“While the Pokémon were able to assist us in defeating the Dark Arms and giving us a little time…in the end, we did destroy him ourselves,” Sixer said carefully.

Maria was going to have to show Sixer how to make mirages so that he could show her what had happened. The fight must have been _spectacular_.

“Man, I wish I’d been awake to see that. He must have suffered some _spectacular_ end. Who knew that what he did to you guys turned out to be his weakness, huh?” Maria grinned. “Talk about irony.”

Sixer smiled. “I am quite relieved that it worked in our favor.”

Over the next hour or so, Pika sat on the windowsill next to Maria’s cot and filled her in on what had happened since the battle, with Sixer occasionally adding a statement of his own. She had been unconscious for four days altogether, and Sixer and his family had woken up three days ago. None of them had been allowed to go far from the bedroom, though – everyone else was being very careful about helping them get their strength back.

Mostly because Pika, Vash, and Knives had dealt with _her,_ and they weren’t about to let that experience go to waste.

But the most surprising piece of news to Maria was that they had managed to rescue the townsfolk from _Sixer’s_ Gravity Falls, and she saw proof of that when Fiddleford arrived with a double in tow.

Fiddleford’s counterpart looked around at Sixer and his family nervously while Fiddleford approached Maria with confidence. She was lying on her back on the cot again, rather than leaning against the window.

“Glad ta see ya up!” Fiddleford walked over to Maria. “I was worried I was gonna lose a patient!”

Maria raised an eyebrow. “Pretty sure I’m you’re only patient.”

“Exactly! Hadron, if you wanna help, you’d better get over here an’ stop gawkin’ like a kid in a machine shop.”

“O-oh! Right.” Hadron turned his gaze away from Star and moved closer to Maria and Fiddleford. “So, yer some kinda android?”

Maria shifted to her armor with a smirk. The sight probably would have been more impressive if her chest armor wasn’t so full of dents, but Hadron’s jaw dropping still made Maria grin.

Fiddleford whistled. “Yup, that looks pretty bad. But I’ll get that fixed up in a jiffy! If you’ll just…help me get this off here….”

Maria would have helped Fiddleford and Hadron work the chest plate off if the attempt didn’t hurt so much. Or if she had more energy. As soon as they got it off, however, the discomfort vanished, and she sighed in relief.

A soft blue glow came from her exposed circuitry – her core, that spherical crystal where her soul resided.

And the only thing that had stood between her freedom and having a third torn off her soul.

Fiddleford sat on the floor and set to his work with his hammers, knocking the dents out with care. Hadron watched with wide eyes as Fiddleford worked, and then his gaze moved to Maria.

“That little thing is what keeps ya goin’?” Hadron approached Maria and reached out a hand towards her core.

Maria’s eyes narrowed as her gears whirred in her chest. She saw Sixer’s ears flick back. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t come any closer to touching that. The last fellow had his forearm crystalized. My core could probably get all of you and be out for another week at most.”

Hadron pulled back quickly.

Maria didn’t like the idea of her core being exposed like this, and she _certainly_ didn’t like the idea of someone being able to interact with it. Hadron may have also been Fiddleford, but she didn’t know _Hadron_ well yet.

Maria watched Fiddleford as he worked, the sound of every clang keeping most of her attention. But she could also hear some of the conversation between Hadron and Sixer, who was leaning against the headboard of his bed in order to watch Fiddleford and talk to Hadron.

Hadron sat down on the chair next to Sixer’s bed. “An’…how’re ya feelin’ today?”

Sixer watched Fiddleford inspect his work on Maria’s chest plate. “I was out cold for a day and kept in bed for the last three. After everything that happened in Weirdmageddon…a few days of quiet feels like all I’m capable of for the moment.”

Maria winced quietly. It sounded like Sixer didn’t have much energy yet, if he was okay with not doing much.

Hadron tilted his head. “You’re…diff’rent, from what I was expectin.’ Yer better, but yer not quite the you I remember.”

Sixer sighed, a long, drawn-out sound through his nose. “I doubt I ever will be, to be honest.”

 Maria felt the same way. She watched Fiddleford come over with the fixed chest plate and bit the inside of her cheek while he fitted it back into place. Feeling her armor try to find the locks it fit into always felt funny.

Hadron looked saddened. “Well, I…I guess that means we don’t got anythin’ ta worry about, since you folks are in good hands here. Now all we gotta do is figure out where we’re gonna go?”

Sixer frowned. “What are you talking about? I was under the impression you were staying in the mansion.”

“Oh, we – we are, it’s just…” Hadron took his hat off and started to pick at the brim with his fingers. “Well, I don’ think we can all stay in there forever. Not when this isn’t our dimension an’ all that.  Ya think if…if this dimension’s okay, then our home is too?”

That was something to think about, wasn’t it? Now that Cipher was gone, maybe there was a chance….

“I don’t—“

“I can check.” Maria pushed herself onto one elbow as she cut Sixer off.

“Maria—“

“I’m not going to make a portal _now.”_ Maria frowned up at Pika, who was sitting on the windowsill. “I’m going to wait a few more days to get more energy back, but I _can_ at least _check_ to see if your dimension is still around.” She held out a hand. “Just – just gimme your hand, Hadron. I should be able to use your general aura and track it back to your dimension.”

Hadron blinked. “Y-you can?”

“I’ve seen her do it,” Sixer spoke up. Right, the counterpart who had been near the cathedral. Sixer had been there for that.

Hadron looked between them, then hesitantly held out his hand.

Maria took it, hand already glowing with a low-level blue light—

A loud snap of electricity caused Maria’s hand to jump away from Hadron, both of them yelping in pain.

 _Wow,_ that hurt.

 **ERROR 404-DIMENSION NOT FOUND** flashed across Maria’s vision.

_Oh, har-de-har._

“Maria!” Sixer was holding onto the headboard like he was about to leap out of bed at any moment. “Are—“

“I’m fine!” Maria shook her hand out, hissing between her teeth. “I was _not_ expecting that. _Ow.”_

“What happened?” Pika frowned, concerned.

“I think what I was expecting.”

Cipher _had_ said that their dimension was pretty much dead and gone, _and_ that this dimension was going to be his new base of operations.

Honestly, Maria shouldn’t have been surprised that she got that response.

Sixer collapsed back into his bed with a mournful sigh.

Maria shot him a sad look. “I’m sorry, but…it looks like Cipher dug his fingers in too deep. I’m not registering any dimension for you guys. At all.”

Hadron stared between Maria and his hand with a wide-eyed, shocked expression. Then he sighed and dropped his hand. “It’s…all right, I suppose. We’ll just hafta find another way of livin, now that we’re sharin’ a town with doubles of ourselves.”

“You’d better believe you’re sharing,” Crescent replied. “No way are you leaving Gravity Falls when you lived here before.”

“He’s kinda got a point,” Pine spoke up. Star nodded in agreement.

“But where?” Hadron looked helpless. “We can’t live up in that mansion forever.”

“You just leave that up to me, double’o mine!” Fiddleford replied with a grin. “We’ll work somethin’ out, I guarantee it!”

If he was going to “work something out,” Maria felt that she wanted to be involved in it, too. It was the least that she could do in order to help them adjust.

Besides, she was a World Jumper. What kind of person would she be if she wasn’t able to help them find a new place to live?

 


	43. The End of Summer

It took another week before Maria was allowed to wander the house without anyone nearby acting as a spotter. She still leaned against walls and doorframes and walked around using her staff as a crutch, but at least her energy levels didn’t drop to the point that she needed someone to catch her when her legs gave out.

Still, the Shack was bigger than she was used to it being, and she soon found out why.

“So, the Shacks basically merged into one Shack when Weirdmageddon stopped?” Maria leaned against the doorway leading into the living room and looked around at the larger space. “Huh. I guess that’s _one_ way of saying this change is permanent.”

“Yeah.” Dipper nodded. He was sitting on the couch with Sixer, watching a marathon for Ducktective. There was currently a commercial for the “Owl Trowel” up, which Maria barely remembered from the cartoon. Now it seemed more annoying than amusing.

“Most of the house isn’t surrounded in unicorn hair anymore, either,” Dipper continued. “Probably because Mizar’s brother and grunkles are demons. The barrier would affect them the same way that it affected Cipher.”

Sixer glanced over. “Won’t that leave us open in case another Cipher decides to come to this dimension?”

Maria’s expression hardened. Yes, that _could_ be a problem, especially with Sixer in the state he was in. A Cipher could – if given the chance – get control of him and get him to help _them_ with Weirdmageddon, and then the cycle would start all over again.

“Y—“ Dipper paused, then frowned. “Yeah, that could be a pretty big problem…but I think having Alcor and Grunkle Journal in the house will help to keep him away? I mean, it’s not like they don’t have protective spells of their own. And Grunkle Journal took over the study space in one of the basement levels – he’s working on setting up a library down there – so I don’t think we’re gonna be without options.”

“Well, if no one else is planning on using that study, all the power to him,” Maria commented. “Any idea what’s gonna be done with that cave of a basement?”

“I think—“

Dipper was cut off when the TV started blaring music that sounded like the start of a news report.

 _“This is Shandra Jimenez, reporting live from the town square,”_ said the woman on the screen. _“It’s been a week since the unfortunate comeback of the strangeness of a certain previous summer, and everyone seems to have adjusted back to how things are supposed to be here in Gravity Falls. It has been confirmed that school will be starting a week later than last year in order to give people time to enjoy an actual_ calm  _ending to summer for once.”_

Giving everyone a break from doing anything sounded like an excellent idea to Maria.

 _“In other news, the local tourist trap has announced another ‘We Survived the Summer’ party. The Never Mind All That Act is going to be temporarily lifted on August 31st so that we can hear how exactly our invasion problem was taken care of in full detail. Hopefully the Pines won’t be against such a thing, as they were the ones who spearheaded the effort.”_ Shandra paused. _“Current proprietor of the Mystery Shack, Soos Ramirez, has said that invites are free admission, although Stanley Pines will be running refreshments with Mabel and Dipper Pines. They have a set price for food and drink, so if Stanley decides to take prices a step higher, do not be afraid to just take the food and run.”_

That particular comment made Sixer smile a little. “Stanley’s not going to like that.”

“No, he doesn’t,” Dipper confirmed. “But it’s the only thing we can use to get him to keep him from making the party more expensive for everyone than it’s going to be.”

Maria snorted. “If he doesn’t find other ways behind your back.”

Sixer nodded and was about to voice his agreement to that when someone else spoke up on the TV.

_“Excuse me, miss!”_

That was—

Maria blinked in surprise when she saw a Ford wearing his “other-side-of-the-portal” outfit appear on-screen.

 _“Oh! Mr. Pines, I wasn’t expecting to see you in town today, what with settling back into the Shack,”_ Shandra greeted.

 _“Actually, I just arrived here,”_ the Ford on the screen corrected. _“One Stanford Pines sent a few messages out that contain some information that none of us were expecting. Is he currently still in town?”_

 _“Yes, he’s up 618 Gopher Road. If I may ask, what information did he give that you found unexpect—Oh, he’s running down the street.”_ Shandra watched the man go, frowning. _“Well, it looks as though the Pines may be getting a visitor before the party tonight!”_

Sixer swallowed audibly. “How much of a time delay is there between the town square and here?”

“Seconds, I think.” Dipper frowned. “For how far away we are from the rest of civilization, they’re really good at updating their broadcasting technology regularly.”

“Well, someone better get the door when he gets here, and I don’t think it should be Sixer.” Maria looked over at Sixer. She remembered how his counterpart had greeted him last time; she didn’t want him to end up in that sort of danger again.

Sixer shook his head in agreement. “I’m likely to have a weapon pointed in my face.”

“I’ll get go tell everyone else he’s coming.” Dipper slipped off the couch. “Maria, you can get the door, right?”

“If need be, yeah.” Maria held out one hand, and there was a bright flash of light as a red, wooden staff with a phoenix at the top materialized. “Thank Primus for built-in crutches.”

Dipper nodded, then ran out of the living room and disappeared into the next one, where most of the family had been watching a card game between Stanleys and Mabels.

At the same time, a loud knocking went off at the front door.

Well, that was quick.

Sixer stiffened. “Do you think it’s—“

“Likely.” Maria sighed and started across the living room, her staff making heavy thuds against the floor as she leaned on it for support. “All right, buddy, let’s see what we’ve got here….”

She opened the door as Sixer’s tails twitched nervously, and there in the doorway was the Ford they’d seen on TV just moments ago.

“Excuse me, I’m—“ The Ford cut himself off when he saw Sixer sitting stiffly on the couch. “Ah. There he is.” He started to push past Maria, only to stop when Maria remained where she was.

One of the advantages of being made of metal is that people couldn’t just nudge her out of the way.

“Excuse  _me,”_ Maria replied. “What are your intentions with Sixer?”

The counterpart frowned. “And who, exactly, is asking?”

“Maria Carlsdale, the World Jumper Fire Storm, that’s who.” Maria raised an eyebrow.

The counterpart didn’t look the least fazed. “I was warned you might be nearby, but I wasn’t expecting the turning point to be this young.”

“She’s technically four hundred years older than I am; I wouldn’t discount her experience just because she looks like she hasn’tlived for as long as she says,” Sixer spoke up.

Maria was glad he was being more independent. It meant that he could handle being on his own if she ever needed to go off and do something.

Sixer’s ears pulled back as the counterpart’s gaze moved in his direction.

“So the reports are true – you _are_ acting differently compared to previous interactions.” The counterpart frowned. “What about Cipher?”

“Out of the picture.” Crescent stepped into the room, followed by Star, Pine, and Stanford. “You missed us killing him by – what, a week?”

Stanford made a “so-so” motion and shrugged. “Weirdmageddon makes time…tricky. So it might have been that long ago.”

“He’s  _dead?”_ the counterpart repeated, startled. “That monster is –“ He cut himself off and shook his head. “I can’t believe that. It sounds far too good to be true.”

“I saw it happen,” Stanford replied. “And we have several other witnesses here who were involved in and watched him be completely and utterly destroyed.”

“You’re certain it wasn’t an illusion,” the counterpart said seriously.

“We knocked ourselves out from the energy drain that killing him _took,”_ Sixer spoke up. “He may have forced transformations on us, but that doesn’t mean that any one of us can alter reality.”

Like Cipher would have let any of his puppets get that sort of power, Maria thought to herself derisively.

The counterpart looked like he was about to protest when Maria tapped him on the shoulder with her staff to get his attention.

“The only thing Sixer can do, as far as I’m aware, is transform into a giant fox and manipulate fire,” Maria said. “Mirages can _seem_ like reality depending on how _good_ they are, but I haven’t gotten to working on those with Sixer yet.”

The counterpart stared. “What are you talking about?”

“She’s showing me the finer points of using my abilities,” Sixer explained. “I…didn’t get a chance to experiment with them before.”

Maria noticed Sixer’s voice became quieter. Cipher didn’t _let_ him experiment, but he wasn’t going to tell his counterpart plainly, it sounded like.

Well, the Ford at the door seemed to pick up on it, judging by how his expression shifted.

“I see. Then there is more to what happened than we initially suspected.” The counterpart frowned. “Is there anything that has been done to the end of _not_ leaving them as puppets?”

“I’m planning on getting on that as soon as school starts,” Maria replied. She looked over at Sixer. “There’s nothing in this dimension that might be able to help, and at least one dimension I know of has nothing that’ll be able to help.”

Sixer’s ears drooped a little. Maria knew he knew what dimension she was talking about. For all the help Pika and the others had offered during Weirdmageddon, there were still some things they weren’t capable of fixing.

But that didn’t mean Maria was planning on giving up.

The counterpart’s brow furrowed. “The damage has to do with his soul, correct? That’s what was meant to be understood, according to the reports that Stanford sent us.” He looked over at Stanford.

Stanford nodded. “That’s the most amount of detail I put in concerning their situation, yes. I felt putting any _more_ detail might put a strain on them none of us would want.”

“And why is that?”

“Would  _you_ want the information about how to pull them away from us wandering around the multiverse between the other members of the council?” Stanford’s eyes narrowed.

Sixer winced, and Maria’s gaze narrowed at that counterpart as well.

If she _trusted_ someone to do what needed to be done, she _might_ be willing to hand Sixer over. At the same time, though, she wanted to make sure that he was going to be all right personally. She didn’t want to forcibly separate him from his family for any reason.

Or his family from those other refugees from his dimension.

“But wouldn’t it be wiser if we kept them with people we knew and trusted?” the counterpart argued.

“Are you insinuating that Stanford doesn’t trust _Stanley_ to keep an eye on Sixer’s brother?” Maria asked coldly.

The temperature of the room immediately dropped ten degrees, and the counterpart’s eyes widened. “I- I didn’t—“

“If you want to question our methods, perhaps it would be best if you left us to what we know _works,_ after having been with them for the last year,” Stanford said coldly. “Otherwise, I will have to have a _talk_ with the council of Fords, and I’m bringing Maria _with_ me, because she has _experience_ in these matters. Am I understood?”

The counterpart shut his mouth and nodded.

“Good. Now is there anything else you want to discuss?”

“Just…one thing.” The counterpart held up his hands while the group stared at him. “How did four different dimensions become merged together in this manner?”

“Blame a couple aliens who made a deal with the dead demon,” Maria replied dryly. “I don’t know how they did it _this_ time, but I know how they did it previous times and I’m _not_ about to spread that information around.”

She wasn’t about to tell him about the Dark Arms and what they’d done to _her,_ either.

The Ford at the door picked up on that, thankfully. He gave a nod and a quick farewell before retreating off the porch and out of sight.

Maria closed the door behind him and sighed, leaning against it. “Something tells me we’re not done with this council.”

“Not for a while, no,” Stanford agreed.

**Time Break**

Eventually, the end of the month arrived, and the entire town turned out for another massive Pines birthday bash for the Dippers and Mabels in the now three-story Mystery Shack. Crescent spent most of those hours regaling how Cipher had died – with some embellishments in order to make everything sound even more incredible.

Maria would have listened to it, but she was more distracted by talking to the refugees that had been rescued from Puppeteer’s Fearamid the moment it all started coming apart.

“It’s just…I get that you guys see him differently, but…I still remember seeing Cipher torture him over and over, a-and take other Fords to other Ciphers.” Corduroy grabbed at her hair and tugged, looking stressed. “Just the thought that he’s _dead_ still feels like a dream ready to turn into a nightmare.”

Maria, leaning against a tree at the edge of the clearing, sighed. “I get that. I’ve had situations where the truth is too good to be true. But this is reality. I may have been knocked out before the final fight, but I trust Sixer and his family to tell the truth on something that important.”

“And he wasn’t being a double-agent for Cipher the whole time? You’re sure?”

“I saw the strings that connect me to him back in November. That connection’s real.”

Maria’s serious tone made Corduroy raise her hands in a placating fashion.

“Okay, so you trust him. But I don’t know if….” Corduroy ran a hand down her face.

Maria nodded again. “You all need time.”

“Yeah.  _Lots_ of it. I need brain bleach or _something_ to get all of this out of my head.”

Maria tilted her head slightly, frowning at Corduroy’s words. “I did something earlier in the year for Sixer and his family – they have night terrors, or they  _could_ have had them. I have a friend who can give me something that will keep the nightmares at bay. That should help at least a little.”

Corduroy stared. “You’re serious? You’d do that?”

“I’ve done it before, and I’m sure that Cress would be more than willing to help me do it again. It might take a few weeks for her to get all the feathers I’m going to need for something like that, but…giving you guys Lunar Wings should help.”

Maria was completely serious about helping them. She didn’t know what it was like, living as a tapestry for six hundred years, but the least she could do was make sure they would be able to adjust back to something that at least resembled normalcy.

She owed it to them for not having been able to rescue them sooner.

Corduroy frowned, looking like she wasn’t quite sure what to say to that. After a moment, she said carefully, “You…you really do have good intentions about making sure everyone’s okay.”

Maria nodded. “I don’t want to see you suffer through more than you have. Recovery is going to be painful, but I don’t want to make it more painful than it has to be.”

“…Huh.” Corduroy didn’t look like she knew what else to say to that.

“Maybe you should see about talking to your counterpart,” Maria suggested. “Or the Multibear – I’ve heard he’s a good listener.”

“Yeah…maybe I’ll do that. Thanks.” Corduroy nodded.

“Excuse me, young ladies.”

The New Jersey accent that the woman’s voice had got Maria’s attention more than the statement itself. She turned her head…and paused.

Floating in front of her was the ghostly form of a woman in a red dress, dark hair done up in an elaborate style Maria could never hope to mimic.

It took her a moment to remember where she had seen her before.

“I’d like ta talk ta the lil’ heroine of the hour, if ya don’ mind.” The ghost nodded to Corduroy. “Ya can talk ta her a lil’ later.”

Corduroy blinked a couple times. “Uh…sure.” She looked at Maria. “Thanks for talking, I guess.”

“I’ll see you in a couple days with the Lunar Wings,” Maria promised.

“Yeah. Sure.” Corduroy turned and walked away, walking past Sixer as he followed after the ghost.

That confirmed it. The ghost was Ma Pines – specifically _Sixer’s_ mom.

“You wanted to see me?” Maria looked up at the woman. “Why?”

“I wanted ta meet the person who was responsible fer all this.” Mrs. Pines motioned to the party that was happening around the giant lodge of a Shack.

Maria blinked a couple times. She wasn’t responsible for the party planning…

“If it weren’t fer you, we’d probably keep spiralin’ down inta that mess until someone else came along an’ just blasted everyone ta bits,” Mrs. Pines said matter-of-factly.

Oh.

“I’m sure someone else would have—“

“Well, that ‘someone else’ had a _long_ time ta try until you came along an’ took care a’ things. An’ you took care a’ it. So there.”

That was not what Maria had been expecting. She was sure that someone else might have done something, but…at the same time, the ghost was right. Maria _was_ the first one who had stepped in and fixed the problem. No one else had succeeded in the same way she had.

“So, now that you have my son, I should hope that you treat him with all the proper care that comes with watching after a man who’s seen more than he ever should.”

 “M-Ma!” Sixer had apparently not expected that.

“Well, it’s not like you can completely take care a’ yerself.” Mrs. Pines looked at him. “Not with yer soul as wounded as it is. I should hope that yer gonna be whole at some point in the future so that you can settle down properly.” She gave Maria a pointed look.

“The plan is to look into solutions for that as soon as school starts up,” Maria promised. “I have friends I can ask for help.”

“Good.” Mrs. Pines gave a definitive nod. “It’s always good ta have someone you can rely on.” She sent Sixer a pointed look.

There was the woman’s motherly scolding.

He ducked his head. “I—“

“I don’ need excuses from you, I know what you were goin’ through. But you know better now, I should think.”

Sixer nodded. He looked at Maria, and she smiled back.

“Well, now that you’re settled an’ both my boys are safe, I should trust that I can trust _you_ to keep an’ eye on them an’ not let them get inta too much trouble.” Mrs. Pines looked at Maria with a serious look.

Maria straightened up. Time to make a _really_ good impression. “Ma’am, as much as trouble attracts my attention, I’ll do my best to make sure it stays away from them.”

“That’s all I ask from someone with as busy a schedule as you.” Mrs. Pines smirked. “Now, you two tell Shermie not ta worry about me, all right?”

What was she talking about?

Sixer blinked in confusion. “Ma, what do you—“

And then they noticed it.

Little globules of light were starting to drift up off Ma’s ghostly form, fading out of sight as they floated upwards.

Oh.

Sixer looked a little panicked. “Ma—“

“I’ve pushed myself ta last in the world of the livin’ fer as long as I could,” Mrs. Pines said. “I wanted ta make sure you were outta the dark part of the woods. An’ now that ya are, I can finally rest in peace.”

She put her hands on either side of Sixer’s face; he leaned into her touch. They remained that way for only a few seconds before Sixer grabbed his mother in a bear hug and buried his face in her shoulder.

“I’ll miss you,” he said as her form slowly became translucent.

Mrs. Pines put her hands behind Sixer’s ears. He seemed to lean into that a little. “An’ I’ll miss you. Stay safe, ya hear? I don’ wanna hafta come down if ya ever get in trouble again.”

Sixer gave a hollow chuckle. “I think I’ll be okay.”

Maria smiled a little, but the smile wasn’t as full as it might have been.

Sixer had seen a lot in his forced life. He had spent the last year taking positive steps in a good direction. But he still had a ways to go.

Maria was determined to keep him going in that right direction, but it was going to take time for that to happen. Every step Sixer took, forward or back, Maria was planning on helping him with to the best of her ability.

She wanted to see him whole. And she looked forward to the day when they found the solution to his soul problem.

Mrs. Pines chuckled. “Good-bye, Stanford. I’ll be seein’ ya.”

And just like that, Sixer was hugging empty air, the last of the little glowing spheres disappearing into the sky.

Sixer looked up, following the trail of the little globules of light. Maria could see the tears streaming down his face, but he didn’t appear to openly care that he was showing that emotion.

Sixer had come so far from who he had been at the end of summer last year.

Maria wiped away the wetness that was forming in her own eyes.

_Time to take care of what I need to, so that you can really be yourself again._

She had a mission. It was time that she put more focus into it.

The steps that could be taken to return Sixer’s and his family’s willpower was out there somewhere.

Now, it was just a matter of finding that solution.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Here we go. We got ourselves a couple'a Pines to get home!
> 
> Also -- if you folks who are reading this haven't read any of my previous fics, the "World Collision" that Maria mentions is a big multiversal disaster she got involved in. Quick summary: a bunch of dimensions got stuck together, and she had to unstick them before those dimensions collapsed in on each other.


End file.
